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• Re-building connections across the globe at APAIE

  Moving forward into the post-COVID era, the theme was appropriately ‘Towards a sustainable future for international education in the Asia Pacific’.

  New Zealand’s presence at the conference was strong with all eight New Zealand universities and Whitecliffe School of Fashion and Sustainability attending, along with representatives from Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao (ENZ) and Immigration New Zealand (INZ).

  ENZ’s Chief Executive Grant McPherson travelled to the event.

  “It is exciting to see the commitment of New Zealand institutions to attend these key regional events,” he said. “The APAIE conference is one of ENZ’s flagship events and supporting these events is a critical component of our broader strategy to rebuild connections across the globe while also rebuilding a more resilient and sustainable sector.”

  Ben Burrowes, ENZ's Regional Director Asia said, "the New Zealand Pavilion was extremely busy across the three days of the conference. The event proved a great opportunity to meet kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) to re-build our brand awareness as well as raising our profile with our key bilateral partners and potential new partners."

  During the conference, ENZ's Director of Scholarships, Carla Rey Vasquez, and the Centres of Asia Pacific Excellence (CAPEs) Education Director, Libby Giles, delivered a presentation showcasing New Zealand's Global Citizenship journey. The session explored examples of how Global Citizenship Education (GCED) has been embedded across New Zealand schools, universities, and government entities as a way to innovate and transform education practices, including through the integration of Te Ao Māori views around this topic.

  Carla said, "It was great to demonstrate to audiences how local and international students can come together as global citizens through a focus on intercultural exchange, as well as through understanding local culture and knowledge.”

  Outside the conference, ENZ's Thailand team organised a series of meetings with key Thai government ministries and agencies including the Ministry of Education, Thailand's National Innovation Agency, the Office of Civil Service Commission, and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation.

  Next year’s APAIE conference will take place in Perth, Western Australia in March.

   

  

  Meetings at the New Zealand Pavilion

• Media famil India Priyanka Srivastava

• Agent training webinars for Malaysia and Thailand

  The webinars will provide updates on popular study options, student entry requirements, scholarships, visa processing, through to employment and career pathway opportunities in New Zealand.

  Speakers will include New Zealand institution representatives as well as ENZ and Immigration New Zealand staff.

  ENZ’s International Market Manager for Southeast Asia, John Mollo, says “We see these webinars as a way to provide the tools, training and intelligence that agents need to better promote New Zealand.”

  The Malaysia Agent webinar is scheduled for 21 May at 10am local time and agents can register here

  The Thailand Agent webinar is scheduled for 22 May at 10am local time and agents can register here

  Please note: Registration for these webinars is for education agents only. ENZ is running a separate series of webinars for New Zealand education institutions.

  Other country webinars are being planned and we will open registration shortly.

  Agent market	Date and local time of webinar
  Indonesia	Tuesday 18 June, 10am
  Japan	Tuesday 16 July, 10am
  China	Monday 1 July, 10am
  Philippines	Tuesday 20 August, 10am
  Viet Nam	Tuesday 10 September, 10am

• ENZ Facebook group connects international students

  The ENZ social media team has created #MyStudyinNZ Journey, a Facebook group for international students across New Zealand to connect, share upcoming events and meetups, ask questions and offer advice.

  ENZ Director of Student Experience, Hayley Shields, says the group is a space for international students to support one another while also offering ENZ valuable learnings about the types of information they need. Plans are in place for a similar group on WeChat to be launched later in the year.

  “This idea has come out of our student experience research where students told us they value the advice of other students. Facebook communities provide an easy forum for our international students to connect.” 

  To ensure the Facebook group is entirely student-focussed, ENZ has recruited a group of domestic and international students to act as moderators. They will ensure students get the information they need while maintaining the group atmosphere as a safe and positive space.

  One of the Facebook moderators, Pritchard Mukuka, says, “For me, this group means bringing home, security and comfort to fellow international students to make their study and stay as pleasant as possible.”

  How education providers can get involved

  Please share the Facebook group details with your international students and encourage them to join up.

  If you would like to share information about events taking place at your institution with the group, please email ENZ International Social Engagement Manager, Olivia Silverwood, on olivia.silverwood@enz.govt.nz

• Study in New Zealand website delivers greater value

  Euan Howden, ENZ’s Student Attraction Director, says prospective students are increasingly using StudyinNewZealand.govt.nz (SiNZ) to search for study options, with new statistics showing use of SiNZ’s search widgets (stand-alone applications) surged 117% from last year.

  “The addition of the ‘Find a course’ search widget last year, alongside existing widgets for institutions/schools, scholarships and agents, has considerably improved engagement.

  “This shows the site is delivering value to prospective students as well as New Zealand providers who want to attract students to their unique education offerings.”

  Those using the new search widgets are finding what they are looking for much quicker and are spending more time reading the results, an average of 4.22 minutes, which combined with a bounce rate (people who leave without reading further) of 5.9% is an outstanding result – the industry bounce rate average is 40%.

  “The recent improvements to the search widgets have significantly increased our target audience’s exposure to content about why they should choose New Zealand, and we’re very pleased with results to date,” says Euan.

  

  
  The SINZ search widgets allow prospective students to search for courses, institutions, scholarships and agents.

  This improved search performance coincides with a suite of other initiatives designed to improve site performance and deliver greater value to students.

  Other updates include:

  • Default search results are now randomised if a user has not used any search filters. This is a change from the previous approach of presenting results in alphabetical order and means preference won’t be given to institutions with names beginning with ‘A’.
  • The start date refinement filter has been removed due to inconsistencies in the data available from institutions, which led to inconsistent search results.
  • Keyword search will be enabled in the search widgets to allow for more intuitive search results for users.

  These changes are in addition to the launch of My StudyNZ, which helps to connect students to New Zealand study options.

  In the last year, more than one million users visited the SiNZ website. To maximise the potential of SINZ for your institution, ensure your institution’s profile is complete and up-to-date.

• Stands WTB

• Canterbury and Korea

• Grant

• From the CE

• From the CE: Farewell to 2020

  2020 has been both the longest and shortest year of my life. It seems like no time ago we were discussing how we could get large numbers of students into New Zealand in time for semester one. Then we were in the midst of a global pandemic.

  New Zealand study providers have been admirable in their response. I applaud the way they have ensured that international students in their care have had the information, care and support they needed, especially through lockdown.

  Universities, schools and polytechnics, English language schools and private training providers have all moved incredibly quickly. Lectures, classes and assessments were moved online almost overnight.

  We heard of fantastic stories of staff members going above and beyond, like that of assistant principal of Havelock North High School, Jamie Kitchin. Jamie opened his home to student Lucas, who arrived in the country just in time for the first term of the year.

  In addition, providers and their peak bodies have been a key part of a sector-wide approach – made up of student associations, private and public providers, government agencies and not-for-profit organisations – to respond to the strategic, operational, and pastoral care issues we have faced. Hours have been spent together on Zoom discussing pragmatic responses, like the $1 million Student Hardship Fund and the pastoral care issues around repatriating international students.

  I also want to acknowledge education agents both offshore and onshore, who have been instrumental in supporting students and their families and ensuring they were safe and well.

  The challenges of 2020 have demonstrated the high calibre of international education in New Zealand.

  At Education New Zealand, we also had to rip up our plans for the year and start again.

  The 2018 New Zealand International Education Strategy had signalled that change was needed and the sector had to become more sustainable and diverse. The pandemic has accelerated that.

  Now, we are guided not only by the strategy, but by the Recovery Plan for international education, with a focus on keeping the New Zealand education brand alive, seeding innovation within the sector, strengthening the system and building on our international relationships.

  To date, the most advanced workstream within the plan is the retention of students. You can read about that elsewhere in this issue of E-News.

  Elsewhere, ENZ teams around the globe have been engaging with our offshore stakeholders through virtual events, seminars and workshops in support of our new work plan. While travel remains restricted, we’ve found that maintaining those person-to-person relationships are more important than ever.

  We’ve launched two brand campaigns (in the UK, Indonesia, Vietnam and China), to keep New Zealand alive in hearts and minds of prospective students. These campaigns have been our most successful to date. The third campaign, Tū Ngātahi, calls on New Zealanders to support international students currently in the country.

  And that’s only the beginning. I would like to echo the Minister in saying that we hope to see increased strength, resilience and innovation within international education going into 2021. The international education sector will not only weather this storm, but build back stronger.

  Make sure you take time out to enjoy with your family and friends. See you in the new year.

  Ehara taku toa I te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.

  My strength is not that of a single warrior but that of many.

  Ngā mihi,

  Grant McPherson

  Chief Executive Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao