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International Student Hardship Fund now fully allocated
The fund first opened for applications on 21 May. It was met with immediate interest by a wide variety of education institutions and community groups.
A cross-ENZ team named Kāhui Oranga was charged with the fund’s administration. They met twice weekly to go through applications and ensure a balanced allocation of funds between regions, sectors and institutions.
Education providers and community organisations are disseminating grants from the fund to international students in the form of cash grants, food parcels and accommodation support.
ENZ Director of Student Experience and Global Citizens, Sahinde Pala, led Kāhui Oranga. She says the government was glad to be able to offer international students tangible support in such an uncertain time.
“At ENZ we talk a lot about manaakitanga – the offering of hospitality and respect to guests. We really want every student that comes to New Zealand to feel valued,” she says.
“It was obvious once the impacts of COVID-19 began to be felt here that we needed to offer our international students most in need extra support during these difficult times.”
Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Poto Williams, announced the Assistance for Foreign Nationals impacted by COVID-19 Programme.
This $37.6 million fund will open on 1 July and be administered by the Department of Internal Affairs. International students experiencing serious hardship will be able to apply to this programme to receive support with basic needs such as food and accommodation.
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Virtual events around the world
Viet Nam: Career fair at Nguyen Sieu School (NSS)
Representatives from eight New Zealand providers attended a career fair at Hanoi’s Nguyen Sieu School (NSS) last month.
With no cases of community-transmitted COVID-19 for the past six weeks, Viet Nam has started to return to normal life. Schools have reopened just ahead of the end of the academic year.
Usually, the NSS Career Fair only allows in-person representatives from foreign institutions. However, thanks to ENZ’s strong relationship with the school, our institutions were represented by proxy – either an education agent or alumnus. A representative from the institution was also permitted to join via video link.
As a result, New Zealand’s presence was well ahead of our competitors like Canada (with two institutions), the UK (also two), or Australia (three).
ENZ Viet Nam Market Manager Van Banh says this is a great example of how key in-market relationships will be critical as international education looks to conduct usual activity online.
“This year’s NSS Career Fair was an exciting example of how we can incorporate digital technology into our in-person events,” she says.
North America: NAFSA eShowcase
For the first time ever, the world’s biggest B2B international education conference was held entirely online.
More than 9,000 international educators from over 100 countries were expected to attend the conference in St. Louis, Missouri over 25-29 May before COVID-19 forced organisers to take it to the digital world. In the end, over 2,000 attended the eShowcase.
Participants were able to visit ENZ’s virtual booth and engage either through chat or live video conversations at designated times.
New Zealand universities and ITPs had dedicated times to host a ‘Virtual Showcase’, which is a mechanism by which NAFSA exhibitors presented, met or collaborated with attendees via a dedicated Zoom session.
“The process of moving the largest in-person B2B international education conference in the world online has been a big learning curve, not only for ENZ and the individual booths and attendees, but for NAFSA themselves,” ENZ Director of Engagement – North America, DuBois Jennings, says.
“With no live, conference-wide chatroom or method to see a list of conference participants it felt isolating at time on the booth, which is very different from the normal, in-person NAFSA conference. However, it has been a valuable learning experience as the international education industry looks for new ways to connect virtually.”
The official NZ CEE schedule.
China: China Education Expo (CEE)
In late May, representatives from ENZ, all eight of New Zealand’s universities and the NZIST were offered a unique opportunity to engage directly with students from China and their parents.
The annual China Education Expo (CEE) is one of the biggest events in the Chinese international education calendar. But ENZ Market Development Manager, Jane Liu, says this year’s engagement through the virtual platform is greater than they would usually expect.
“Although ENZ has worked with the CEE for years, this is the first time we’ve been collaborated with them online. We can see this being useful to New Zealand institutions even after COVID-19.”
Each university provided a one-hour presentation sharing their programmes and how they can work with interested students once COVID-19 precautions have been lifted. The NZIST representative also gave a detailed introduction to the reforms the ITP sector has recently gone through.
The webinars have garnered a combined total of 1000 views, and have been recorded and hosted on WeChat so that students and parents can watch them at their leisure.
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New ENZ agent webinar series highlights NZ's regions
Friendly and welcoming, New Zealand’s regions are a natural playground with boundless opportunity for learning. From the vibrant student city of Dunedin to the tropical coastlines and multicultural people of Northland, New Zealand’s regions are the ideal place for students eager to experience hands-on learning.
In this webinar series, agents are invited to hear from ENZ staff members and the Regional Network on each of New Zealand’s regions: their unique strengths and what they can offer international students.
Each webinar will be conducted twice on the day, at 9am and 9pm NZT.
- Wednesday, 1 July - Auckland, Northland, Taranaki
- Wednesday, 8 July - Hawke's Bay, Waikato
- Wednesday, 15 July - Manawatu, Whanganui
- Wednesday, 22 July - Wellington, Tauranga
- Wednesday, 29 July - Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown
- Thursday, 6 August - Gisborne, Rotorua, Nelson-Tasman, Marlborough, West Coast, Southland, South Canterbury
Go to the ‘Webinars’ section on AgentLab to attend a webinar.
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Emergency benefit for temporary visa holders
Emergency Benefit, which was available for eligible temporary visa holders until 28 February 2021 from Work and Income at the Ministry of Social Development, has been extended to 31 August 2021.
It’s a weekly payment to help with basic living costs while the person arranges to return home as soon as they can.
You can direct in-need students to this Work and Income link to find out if they will qualify and how to apply.
Who is eligible
Foreign nationals may be able to get the Emergency Benefit if they:
- have a current temporary New Zealand visa that is not sponsored, for example a visitor visa, student visa or work visa
- are in financial hardship with no other means of support (other than money to buy a flight home)
- either:
- are arranging to return home as soon as they can, or
- can't get home because of COVID-19 travel restrictions but will do so as soon as flights are available
- are taking all reasonable steps to find other means of support, including looking for work; consular assistance; savings or support from family, friends and organisations in NZ or overseas
- have a valid passport
- have a New Zealand bank account
- have an Inland Revenue (IRD) number.
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Recovery plan for the international education sector
The Minister of Education has announced a long-term recovery plan for the international education sector.
It includes a $51.6 million investment from the COVID-19 recovery and response fund to help reset New Zealand’s international education sector.
The Plan consists of three concurrent workstreams that focus on stabilising the international education sector, strengthening the system, and accelerating the transformation of the sector as signalled in the 2018 International Education Strategy.
It includes:
- $20 million in support for state and state-integrated schools to continue to employ the specialist international workforce to provide teaching and pastoral care to international students in New Zealand this year.
- $10 million targeted and immediate funding to private training providers of strategic importance (including English language schools) to preserve the foundations of the sector. MOE is developing eligibility criteria which will be implemented by TEC; providers can apply to TEC from mid-August.
- $1.5 million for English Language Schools to deliver English language training to migrants to help them to succeed in our schools and communities.
- $6.6 million to continue pastoral care and other activities normally funded by the Export Education Levy.
- $500k for NZQA to ensure the quality of New Zealand education being delivered offshore, and continue strengthening ongoing quality assurance processes.
ENZ will administer:
- $3 million for marketing and brand protection activities to keep New Zealand’s education brand visible in key markets and to ensure we capitalise on the strong international reputation New Zealand has gained through its handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
- $10 million to develop new future-focused products and services to drive growth in our system onshore and offshore, to ensure a more resilient sector. This will include:
- An offshore pathways initiative to enable learners to begin their New Zealand education journey from their home country and to study programmes that pathway directly into bachelors and masters degrees in New Zealand, providing greater flexibility for learners and resilience to shocks.
- A New Zealand digital platform to provide a single strong New Zealand brand and presence to enable New Zealand providers to deliver their education products and study programmes to more people offshore, and to meet changing learner needs.
Education New Zealand will also support and drive the Recovery Plan through its annual activity. This will include brand positioning, maintaining engagement with students, partners and agents offshore, student retention and transitions, building the international reputation of New Zealand education, and working with the sector and regions on innovation and new modes of delivery.
The Ministry of Education has developed criteria for the allocation of funding for Private Training Establishments (PTEs) and English language schools, to be implemented by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).
Fund for PTEs in financial difficulty due to COVID-19
The Private Training Establishment (PTE) Targeted Assistance Fund (TAF) closed on 11 September 2020.
PTE ESOL Provision Fund
The PTE ESOL Provision Fund closed on 28 August 2020.
Further information
- Download the Recovery Plan outline here
- Read the Minister of Education's release
- Cabinet Paper - A Strategic Recovery Plan for the International Education Sector
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Internationalisation remains a key focus for Education New Zealand
Under the inaugural funding collaboration with FAPESP, ENZ has pledged NZ $105,000 to nine research projects. Each project is led in tandem with academics from New Zealand and Brazil.
And for the 15th year, ENZ has supported the joint work of New Zealand and Chinese researchers through the Tripartite Fund. This year’s funding round provided NZ $20,000 to five projects (rather than the traditional NZ $30,000 to three) due to the ongoing COVID-19 travel restrictions.
As the Government is currently advising New Zealanders not to travel internationally, this funding was pledged on the proviso that the researchers either work together online or delay any international travel to a later date.
Internationalisation is a crucial part of the New Zealand International Education Strategy (NZIES) under all three pillars.
“Supporting and investing in international academic mobility is one unique way ENZ can contribute to this goal. We see short-term benefits, like person-to-person links and the strengthening of diplomatic relationships, as well as long-term benefits like increased trade flow,” says ENZ’s Chief Executive Grant McPherson.
Building international links between institutions can also directly impact their rankings. Times Higher Education recently released their Latin America University Rankings 2020, which featured seven Brazilian universities in the top 10. The Times Higher Education’s methodology includes five factors – learning environment, research, citations, international outlooks and industry income – all of which can be positively impacted by initiatives like the NZ-FAPESP funding and Tripartite Fund.
“Internationalisation is all about building and maintaining relationships. I am very proud that ENZ has not only managed to sustain this crucial link with China, but built new connections with Brazil.”
Over the history of the Tripartite Fund, we’ve seen positive outcomes across a variety of research areas including environmental protection and climate change, health and medicine, animal science, educational development, media literacy, renewable energy and the conservation and heritage of national parks. The partnership with FAPESP also started with relevant areas for New Zealand, like education, engineering, biological sciences and health.
It’s a mark of the high-quality and reputation of New Zealand’s universities’ that they all are able to enter in the Tripartite Fund and arrangements like the one with FAPESP.
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Register now for ENZ’s East Asia/Japan/Korea market sentiment webinar series
For the past few months, Education New Zealand’s East Asia team has been conducting research to develop ‘Market Sentiment’ findings for each of the region’s seven focus markets.
The research has been developed through interviews and surveys with key in-market stakeholders such as agents, students/parents, local institutions and local government partners. We’ve also conducted desktop research and leveraged reports from external research agencies.
Based on the findings, ENZ has developed activities and identified opportunities in which we can now work collaboratively with industry and other government agencies to realise.
Some of the key insights have been distilled into individual one-page market updates which can be found on ENZ’s IntelliLab platform:
To deliver the full research insights, we will be hosting a series of webinars for our New Zealand industry colleagues (including Q&A sessions) on the following dates:
Tuesday, 28 July (3pm NZ time)
Vietnam/Philippines
Wednesday, 29 July (3pm NZ time)
Japan/Thailand/South Korea
Thursday, 30 July (3pm NZ time)
Indonesia/Malaysia
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Meet the team: John Goulter
Could you please outline your own role and the role of the Stakeholders and Communications team?
The Stakeholders and Communications team looks after the part of ENZ’s work that intersects with key external groups – such as other government departments, Ministers, Parliament and, through our various channels, the people of New Zealand.
We try to get all those influences lined up in support of international education. Right now, thanks to COVID-19, there is more external focus on international education than there has been for years. We try to ensure it’s well-informed.
How has COVID-19 impacted your team’s work, and what work do you have ahead of you with the recovery?
Sometimes it seems like we have done nothing else since COVID-19 appeared on the horizon way back in January.
It has brought to the surface some long-running issues about international education. It’s an opportunity for us to show leadership in outlining the future role of the sector, and developing interesting new approaches.
John with ENZ Field Director - North America Lewis Gibson in Washington DC.
Can you tell me a bit about your professional background?
I was a journalist for a long time, mainly reporting politics from the Press Gallery in Parliament.
I loved that at the time but I moved into public affairs roles because after a while in journalism I wanted to be influencing the way things happen, rather than just writing about them.
Journalism is now changing totally, like many sectors are. Some new models are emerging, but it’s a struggle in a country the size of New Zealand.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I like running and travelling and live music. So I’m not having a great year. Most running events have been cancelled or postponed, and so have all the concerts I had booked for.
I listen to some podcasts, mainly about running and politics in the United States. It is hard for us to fathom the depth of the COVID-19 crisis they are going through.
I actually liked a lot about our lockdown. It was good being a little family unit at home. I loved running on nearly empty roads. I took up Zoom yoga classes with my daughter in Christchurch. I wonder about what the new reality is going to look like for us all.
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Introducing Team AMEE
The Americas, Middle East and Europe team (AMEE) will be led by Regional Director Amy Rutherford.
Bronwyn Shanks has now taken on the role of Special Adviser – Special Projects, Europe and the Middle East. Suzan Mozher remains in her role as Market Manager/Deputy Education Attaché, based at the New Zealand Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The re-allocation of the Middle East was for pragmatic reasons – primarily, to even out the workload between our two international teams. There is also only a one-hour time difference between Suzan in Riyadh and Vienna, where Bronwyn is based.
“I’m looking forward to working with our partners in the Middle East,” Amy says. “Please contact either me, Bronwyn or Suzan if you’d like to discuss any development ideas or issues to do with the region.”
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MyStudy NZ WeChat mini programme gets a refresh
MyStudy NZ is our intelligent matching tool which matches prospective students to courses and institutions in New Zealand based on a set of questions and areas of interest. It can be found on www.studyinnewzealand.govt.nz for our western markets.
However, for our China market who predominantly use WeChat, we developed a mini programme for them in November 2018.
The new version of the mini programme continues the original smart matching, but is more user-friendly and personalised, making it easy for students to obtain official information about application.
How is 2.0 better than 1.0? We believe it’s better in eight different ways:
- Social sharing enabled – Prospective students who come across their dream school can now share it to a WeChat friend or group chat immediately. The recipient can open the mini programme and view the details of the school as well.
- One-click authorisation – Students won’t have to fill in all the details to become a member anymore. With one click, prospective students can authorise their WeChat accounts to become registered MyStudy NZ members.
- Clear living costs displayed – Once prospective students get a match, they can expand and view the annual living costs in a pop-up window.
- You can see the latest content with added filter – Without registering, students can view the latest OA articles and filter based on views or posting date.
- UX (user experience) optimisation – Users can now choose paths when entering the mini programme.
- Complete UI (user interface) update – To remain consistent with the refreshed ‘I am New’ brand.
- New notifications – Push notifications will be sent to remind students to register, do course matching, bookmark favourite schools and talk to them.
- Speed optimisation and no more errors – We have done some coding optimisations and upgraded our server so the mini programme will load faster and users shouldn’t receive any more error messages.
