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First NZ-India Education Week maintains key education connections
The schedule of online events included panel discussions, specialist masterclasses, events with alumni, a showcase of New Zealand’s Māori culture, and a daily trivia quiz.
Attendees included the New Zealand High Commissioner His Excellency David Pine, New Zealand and Indian academics, international staff at education providers, agents, Indian media, and government officials from both countries. ENZ’s India Team saw high audience and student engagement at the events, thanks to the online platform’s Q&A and chat functions.
The NZ-India Education Week is part of the New Zealand Government’s Recovery Plan for the international education sector under the third stream, ‘Transforming to a more sustainable future state’.
“The NZ-India Education Week helped us build relationships with India’s education leaders, and keep a New Zealand education experience in the hearts and minds of our Indian students,” ENZ Regional Director – Asia, John Laxon, says.
Indian students are the second-largest cohort of New Zealand’s overall international student population, behind only China. Pre COVID, they had also been the fastest growing international student cohort at New Zealand universities.
The NZ-India week builds on a number of internationalisation initiatives at a government level that will provide a platform for further growth beyond COVID-19. In February 2020 former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters attended the inauguration of the second NZ Centre in the world at Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, supported by all eight New Zealand universities.
“We are committed to investing in New Zealand’s education links with India for the long-term,” John says. “Indian students enrich our communities and our education institutions are partnering on world-leading research projects. With all the disruption caused this year by COVID-19, it’s very important to us that we continue to strengthen our bonds with India.”
On the ‘road’ again
ENZ’s team in South Korea, in partnership with the Seoul Board of Education, held their first-ever online school roadshow this October. It aimed to give Korean students a better idea of New Zealand and inspire them to study here in the future.
Virtual webinars were delivered to over 500 students at 13 Korean high schools. Before each webinar, students were asked to send in their questions about New Zealand education, so their presentation could be tailored to reflect their interests.
New Zealand Ambassador to Korea, Philip Turner, supported the roadshow with a pre-recorded video.
“This strategic engagement with the Seoul Board of Education is an example of how we’re working with key in-market stakeholders to keep the dream of New Zealand education alive in the hearts and minds of our future international students,” ENZ Regional Manager – East Asia, Ben Burrowes says.
Maintaining the New Zealand brand in our offshore markets is a key part of the third workstream of the Recovery Plan for international education, ‘Transforming to a more sustainable future state’.
Elsewhere in Korea, ENZ working on connecting NZ schools with Korean schools for virtual language exchanges. In September, Team Korea launched a digital platform for a local Korean audience that shares positive stories about New Zealand’s COVID-19 response, institution updates, and inspiring stories of Korean international students.
“Before COVID, Korea was the fourth-largest student source country for New Zealand’s international education sector,” Ben says. “In 2018, nearly 2,500 Korean students studied at New Zealand schools, a five percent increase on 2017, and our market research indicates that the interest in a New Zealand education certainly still remains. It’s therefore vital that we maintain our brand presence and help to build a pipeline of Korean students for our institutions.”
Getting started with chatbots
ENZ is the only country in the world that uses a chatbot to market to prospective international students.
Tohu is a helpful little bot that sits on Study in New Zealand, NauMai NZ, and the Study in New Zealand Facebook page.
It answers questions on everything from applying for a visa to what you can do for fun in New Zealand. It gives prospective students an answer to most of their questions immediately, freeing up ENZ’s social media team so they can focus on other projects.
ENZ’s Director of Planning, Jamie Crump, has developed a whitepaper with ENZ’s chatbot agency partner, Theta, which lays out a framework for developing a chatbot.
The five-step framework draws on Jamie’s Master of Technological Futures report, and is based on ENZ’s development of Tohu.
Because ENZ staff can train Tohu on new information at any time, the bot is a versatile tool in our social engagement team’s toolbox. So far, Tohu has been utilised in the Ask New Anything campaign, and has most recently learnt new answers on the COVID-19 situation in New Zealand.
“Prior to Tohu, with a social media team of two, it could take up to 24 hours for someone to get a response to their question. Now they can get an immediate response, and we know that Tohu can answer more than 80 percent of the most common questions,” ENZ International Social Media Manager, Nicole Baird, says.
“So the team can spend time answering the specific questions, and doing more of the strategic things for our Facebook channel, rather than answering the same straightforward questions repeatedly.”
Jamie’s initial research revealed that many people already like engaging with a chatbot, and that more and more consumers are using chatbots as a way of finding out information. For example, 48 percent of people would rather connect with a company via live chat than any other means of contact.
Tohu is integrated with ENZ’s marketing database and automation software, Marketo. Instead of completing a form, students can sign up to the receive updates from Study In New Zealand or NauMai NZ. This feature also opens up possibilities for Tohu to become a more targeted, useful channel for prospective students.
“The logical next step is personalisation of the chat experience, and that’s something we’re looking forward to exploring with Theta,” Jamie says.
Read Get started with chatbots: A proven framework for chatbot implementation
Around the world in five
GLOBAL
Will university rankings adjust to our uncertain times?
Rankings have become a part of academic reality and, when this reality begins to change, rankings must follow suit. Hence, the ranking elite took the opportunity to discuss the possible impact COVID-19 may have on both international and national rankings.
Read more

UNITED STATES
The US issued 99% fewer student visas to applicants from China this year — here’s why
The US has granted a total of 808 F-1 visas to students in mainland China between April and September 2020, according to data from the US State Department.
Read more

JAPAN
Japan’s National Universities to Increase Number of International Students
Japan’s Education Ministry is planning to increase the number of international students who will be permitted to pursue studies at the country’s national universities in the 2022 academic year.
Read more

UNITED KINGDOM
UK 600k int’l student target by 2030 “achievable”
Despite the impact of Covid-19 on study abroad numbers, the UK government target of attracting 600,000 international students by 2030 is still “completely achievable”, according to the Home Office head of Student Migration Policy.
Read more

NEW ZEALAND
How NZ university fees compare to the rest of the world - are they too high?
New Zealand university fees are higher than those in many European and Asian countries, according to a new study. An analysis of 50 nations with top-ranking universities ranked New Zealand 14th most expensive, averaging $8595 per student per year.
Read more
ISANA NZ Awards 2020
Nominations for the ISANA NZ Awards for 2020 are now being sought now and must be submitted by 5pm on 4 December. The three awards include:
- The ISANA NZ Professionalisation Award recognises a practitioner who has exemplified an outstanding professional commitment to their international education work.
- The ISANA NZ Award recognises an individual for their resourcefulness and outstanding commitment to international student welfare.
- The Tracy Evans Scholarship recognises the outstanding work of an individual working in the New Zealand schools international education sector.
Visit the Awards and Scholarships page on the ISANA NZ website.
Nominations to be sent to: contact@isana.nz by 5pm, 4 December.
Click here to register for the ISANA NZ Awards Ceremony at 11am, 9 December.
NZ-Japan Education ties stronger following digital ceremony
Together in an online ceremony with the Hokkaido Board of Education, ENZ strengthened the existing partnership between Hokkaido and New Zealand this week.
The agreement promotes collaborative opportunities in education through shared interests, including indigenous culture, primary industries and rugby. Areas of collaboration outlined in the agreement are student exchanges between high schools in New Zealand and Hokkaido, and the exchange of information on efforts to develop human resources which improves the educational environment and teaching methodology.
Continuing to build our international government-to-government relationships with agreements like this one is a current focus of ENZ, as part of the second stream of the Recovery Plan for international education.
The signing brought together Superintendent of the Hokkaido Board of Education, Toshihiro Kodama, and ENZ’s Chief Executive, Grant McPherson, and was witnessed by New Zealand’s Ambassador to Japan, Hamish Cooper.
ENZ Senior Market Manager – Japan, Misa Kitaoka, was online to facilitate, translating between parties. “Despite the ongoing challenges of COVID, this online signing still managed to convey a celebratory atmosphere with ENZ’s waiata and the Hokkaido students’ taiko performance. The timing of the partnership could not be better after Japan’s successful hosting of the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the Japanese Government’s official recognition of Ainu as the indigenous people of Japan, all of which will open new doors for education cooperation with Hokkaido and Japan.”
“While we wait for the border to reopen, we look forward to starting with online activities connecting Hokkaido and New Zealand schools,” she said.
Grant McPherson was delighted for ENZ to be hosting the signing ceremony that further strengthens the existing partnership between New Zealand and the Hokkaido Board of Education.
“I am especially appreciative of how committed New Zealand and Japan both remain to building our education relationship given the exceptionally challenging year that we have had.”
McPherson said that as everyone adapts to a new environment amid the global pandemic, it was important to think differently about the future being created. “It’s in this new context that we look forward to working together on our education cooperation arrangement. It is a significant milestone for Education New Zealand and one that will strengthen the partnership agreement between our governments.”
Since 2014, ENZ has facilitated opportunities for Hokkaido’s students and farmers to study in New Zealand on dairy scholarships, giving them the opportunity to experience one of our primary industry sectors first-hand.
Education New Zealand launches Brand Protect 2.0 Campaign

On 23 November, ENZ will be launching a digital brand campaign informally known as ‘Brand Protect 2’.
This is a direct continuation of the Brand Protect campaign that ran July to August, and became our most successful brand awareness campaign to date. Research shows us that global sentiment towards New Zealand remains positive, so this is a key moment to leverage this attention to tell the education story in-market.
The new iteration will run in Indonesia, the UK, and Viet Nam from 23 November-23 December, with China following in January. Our campaign activity will be supported by a range of content on our own social media channels.
In addition to the content, a new landing page has been developed to further underline New Zealand education values and draw a connection between our global reputation and the strength of our education system. As well as this, audiences will be directed to explore their future study options on SINZ and join our social communities.
Please email brand@enz.govt.nz for all questions and enquiries, or speak to your ENZ representative.
From the CE: The outlook for the future
Many of you are wondering – and fielding a lot of questions – about the outlook for the future as COVID-19 continues to disrupt the world.
It’s very important to acknowledge that COVID-19 is an unprecedented event in our lifetime. While there have been crises, disasters, wars and terrorist attacks, none have had the scale, impact or complexity of this global pandemic. There is little certainty as the world navigates its way through this and looks to the development of effective vaccines to counter its impact.
As New Zealand’s Director-General of Health advises, COVID-19 is a very tricky virus and we have to be very vigilant. The Government is continuing to take a balanced approach to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of everyone in New Zealand and to carefully manage demand on the country’s quarantine facilities. We aren’t out of the woods yet and can’t be complacent.
Like many other countries, New Zealand’s border restrictions remain in place. The Government is granting entry to small, targeted cohorts by exception only, and only these visas are being processed. Students are not able to apply for a student visa from outside New Zealand, unless a border exception applies. This decision will be reviewed in February 2021.
Last month we saw the Government recognise the vital role international education will play in the recovery and rebuild of New Zealand and the need to continue the fight against the pandemic. The Minister of Education announced that the Government would allow a small cohort of up to 250 postgraduate (mostly PhD) students into New Zealand. These are students whose study has been interrupted by COVID-19 and who have a practical research component to their study that requires them to be here. Providers are currently selecting these students and they are expected to enter New Zealand earlier next year.
We acknowledge that this exception applies to a fraction of the number of students we normally welcome to the country. Some students and providers may be disappointed not to have been a part of this first border exception group.
The Government says it will review further possible border exceptions to enable more cohorts to enter the country, as and when the time is right, and to then build up numbers when it’s safe for all to do so. But no further decisions around cohorts have been made at this stage.
So, given this information, we won’t see normal numbers of students entering the country in time for term one or semester one next year. I suggest that tertiary students consider starting or continuing their New Zealand study online, until there is more certainty on border exceptions. Students and their families are advised to keep in close contact with their agent or study provider.
But throughout this uncertainty, I can assure you that New Zealand highly values international students and looks forward to their return. Until then, the team at Education New Zealand will continue to tell you as much as we can about the situation here, as soon as we can.
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
Innovative ENZ universities’ partnership a key part of sector’s COVID-19 recovery and rebuild
Education New Zealand and New Zealand’s eight universities have announced a new partnership with UK-based qualifications provider the University Consortium (NCUK) that will allow students from more than 30 countries to begin a New Zealand university qualification without leaving home.
The partnership will play an important role in implementing the Government’s COVID-19 Strategic Recovery Plan for International Education.
ENZ Chief Executive Grant McPherson said the Pathway initiative is key to the shift in New Zealand’s international education approach that will make the sector more resilient over the next few years.
“It is a tangible demonstration of New Zealand providing flexible and diverse education options for students that will enhance sector’s resilience and sustainability in the face of global change,” Grant said.
This agreement is part of a broader ENZ Global New Zealand Education Pathways initiative, through which ENZ is extending its activities to enable students to connect with blended, online, digital and full qualification study options.
In support of this initiative, ENZ has extended its Study in New Zealand website to enable all New Zealand quality-assured education providers to add global delivery sites over time, where students undertake learning for a qualification offshore.
The pathways initiative enables international students to begin study in their home countries towards Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at any of New Zealand’s eight universities. It leverages NCUK’s quality-assured global network of 81 recognised Study Centres.
Students commencing the pathway in 2021 could start their study either online or in New Zealand, in 2022 or 2023, once they complete one of three relevant NCUK pathway qualifications – a one-year international foundation year programme to enter an undergraduate degree in New Zealand; or a one-year international year one programme, equivalent to one year’s study towards a business or engineering Bachelor’s degree; or a pre-Master’s programme towards a Master’s degree in New Zealand.
All New Zealand universities are supporting this latest partnership, committing at least $300,000 per annum across the sector in dedicated NCUK scholarships. Universities New Zealand has recognised the NCUK Foundation Year programme as being equivalent to University Entrance.
Universities New Zealand Chief Executive Chris Whelan said New Zealand’s universities were committed to developing innovative solutions that connect New Zealand to students globally.
“The partnership will give students flexibility to work towards New Zealand university undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications while borders are closed.
“International education is a critical component of building the quality of our education offering – specifically in areas such as research and development. The ‘team New Zealand’ approach taken by our universities will enable us to better attract students who are sought after by universities all over the world,” Whelan said.
ENZ General Manager – Partnerships and Marketing, Paul Irwin, said the initiative also has strong potential to be extended across the wider New Zealand education sector.
“This has great potential to be developed for the wider New Zealand education sector with diverse study options such as new blended, online, digital and full qualifications.”
NCUK Study Centres will start promoting pathway qualifications to study at New Zealand universities from December for the next cohort intake in March 2021.
The offshore pathways initiative has involved nearly all ENZ’s teams - both onshore and offshore – including International, Industry, Marketing (Digital and Brand) and Communications.
The Pathways partnership will help develop a pipeline of international students to study in New Zealand when the time is right. The partnership is part of the Government’s Recovery Plan for international education, which invests $10 million over three years towards innovative products and modes of education delivery that will enable the international education sector to not only recover from the shock of COVID-19, but transform to a more diversified, sustainable future state.
Further information on the New Zealand Global Education Pathways initiative can be found at http://studyinnewzealand.govt.nz/global-pathway s.
Education New Zealand hosts first-ever NZ-China Education Week
Early Childhood Education Symposium
The inaugural New Zealand-China Early Childhood Education Symposium with China Centre for International People to People Exchange (CCIPPE), an agency under the Ministry of Education of China, was well-received by the audience of over 1,000 people.
ENZ General Manager – International, Lisa Futschek, provided opening remarks alongside distinguished officials from China who expressed support for the dialogue around ECE to continue between our two countries.
“It was very moving to hear Deputy Director General Xiaochun YANG speak te reo Māori in his closing remarks,” ENZ Director – Greater China, Miranda Herbert, said.
“The ECE Symposium highlights the special relationship between New Zealand and China and our long history of engaging in bilateral dialogue in a variety of education related fields to learn from each other.”

Educators tune into the ECE Symposium.

Part of the success of participation was due to CCIPE’s social media post which attracted over 8000 reads (pre-event). CCIPPE article with photos: 2020中国-新西兰学前教育研讨会在线成功举办 (qq.com)
The entire symposium was bilingual – no small feat in a virtual environment. ENZ used subtitles on pre-recorded presentations, interpretation for the live speakers and engaged a bilingual MC with experience in the ECE field.
University of Auckland Associate Dean International – Faculty of Education and Social Work, Marek Tesar, presented a session at the symposium titled “How ECE Teachers Shape Our Children: Fostering Quality ECE Teachers—Formal Education and Professional Development."
“A fantastic event, which brought together an interdisciplinary group of people to discuss the important topic of early childhood education. It has emphasised the many opportunities for ongoing collaboration between New Zealand and China and I hope that this is the first of many such symposia – hopefully in person next time!” he said.

Watch the recording
To view the recorded symposium, please log back into your ECE Symposium Attendee Login. Didn’t have a registration? Choose Attendee Registration and complete the registration on this website: https://event.dragontrail.com/NZedu/en
Once logged in, navigate to Floor Plan and click “Education Symposium 2020”
Then you will see this screen to click “Playback”

The Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) present at Sino-New Zealand Higher Vocational Education.

8^th Sino-New Zealand Higher Vocational Education Conference
This year’s Sino-New Zealand Higher Vocational Education conference moved to a virtual platform this year which enabled continued dialogue between New Zealand and China.
Over three half-days, it focused on challenges and innovations in online learning and international collaboration for managers, teachers and researchers in vocational education and training.
Conference organisers, Wintec and co-organiser, Skills International worked closely with China partners Tianjin Light Industrial Vocational Technical College, Qingdao Vocational Technical College and Central Institute for Vocational Technical Education to deliver an engaging event for the live audience in Tianjin and the virtual attendees.
Agent Seminars
The Agent Seminars reached an audience of 500 attendees from across the Greater China region over two days.
Agents were welcomed by New Zealand’s Ambassador to China, H.E. Clare Fearnley, heard from Immigration New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand, and even learned how to order a green tea in te reo Māori.
With over 44 New Zealand institutions and regions exhibiting in the virtual exhibition hall, agents were able to connect through the virtual meeting rooms to have one-on-one conversations. ENZ trialled a virtual conferencing platform created for the China market that allowed our Chinese agents to join via WeChat and tailor their view to local language.
ENZ wants to thank all the exhibitors, presenters and attendees who participated in New Zealand Education Week to help make it a success and we appreciate your adaptability to a China-friendly virtual platform.
ENZ has received great feedback from both sides on the programme and future partnership opportunities – there is a strong desire to continue dialogue.
Watch the recording
Note, the Agent Seminars were over two days and the majority of presentations are in Chinese language.
To view the recorded seminars, please log back into your Agent Seminars Organization or Attendee Login.
Didn’t have a registration? Choose Attendee Registration and complete the registration on this website: https://event.dragontrail.com/NZedu/en
Once logged in, please navigate to Floor Plan and click “Agent Seminar Presentations”.
Then you will see this screen to click “Playback” for either 25 or 26 November.