Search

Showing 10 of 7336 results

Advice for international education staff navigating counselling for their students
Due to issues that have been raised with ENZ, we thought it would be a good idea to clarify that any student who needs support should reach out to the services available. INZ advises that accessing counselling is unlikely to be an immigration issue.
The past year of the pandemic has put a huge amount of stress and strain onto everyone, including international students.
It is more important than ever that international students access support services such as counselling if they need to.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) supports ENZ in this important message – students should seek out counselling when they need it.
When applying for a new visa, students do have to declare details of ongoing healthcare they require – including what the treatment is, what it is for, the degree of treatment and how their condition is being managed.
A student does not need to declare that they have had counselling as part of their visa application unless they have significant mental health issues that require hospital care.
“In recent weeks, we’ve heard from members of the sector that some international students are shying away from seeking support because they’re afraid it’ll affect their current or future visas,” ENZ Director – Student Experience & Global Citizens, Sahinde Pala, said.
“The past 12 months has been an incredibly challenging period for everyone. Students out there feeling stressed or missing their loved ones at home should know that they are not alone.”
ENZ 4 copy for enews website 1
Tokyo education fair showcases Māori culture
This was the fourth annual ENZ fair in Japan and included representatives from 40 New Zealand institutions as well as SIEBA representatives.
Misa Kitaoka, ENZ’s Senior Market Development Manager – Japan, said this year she wanted to make the fair special by incorporating an element that was uniquely New Zealand, but that also resonated with the Japanese attendees.
“Being part of Te Rautaki Māori, ENZ’s Māori Steering Committee, I have had the opportunity to learn some te reo and Māori cultural practices, which I realised has many commonalities with those of the Japanese,” said Misa.
The fair began with a mihi to welcome a group of junior high school students and teachers from Tokyo Seitoku University Junior and Senior High School, a private secondary school that sends all 150 of its year 3 junior high school students to New Zealand schools for one term every year.
Following the mihi, a group of over 30 students from Hamilton Boys’ and Girls’ High School performed a haka and waiata which brought tears to the eyes of many students and parents.
“The kapa haka performance increased visitor numbers for sure – it was such a moving performance. A student from Hamilton Boys’ who’s half Maori, half Japanese translated the meaning of each performance to attendees in Japanese, so impressive!
This year’s fair also saw an increasing number of mothers interested in taking their young children to New Zealand.
“With the Japanese government’s focus on improving the nation’s English language capability in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the average age of English learners in Japan is getting younger,” Misa said.
To address this demand, ENZ is working closely with SIEBA to promote its PSP programme, representing more than 40 primary schools available to receive international students over five years of age.
The ENZ Japan fair in 2019 will be held during the Rugby World Cup on 22 September 2019 followed by an agents/educators’ seminar and networking event in Tokyo on 24 September 2019.
For those interested in attending the fair, pre-registration is now open at ENZ Events page here.
Any New Zealand secondary school or tertiary institution bringing their kapa haka group on a tour to Japan next year and wish to perform at our fair, please email japan@enz.govt.nz.
Around the world in five
CHINA
HSBC launches international education payment service
HSBC has launched a mobile payment system on mobile app and WeChat for Chinese international students. The service offers tuition payment with currency conversion and transfer to major global universities.
Read more

SOUTH EAST ASIA
ASEAN higher education more open to international engagement
Higher education systems in the ASEAN region, particularly Malaysia, Viet Nam, The Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, are becoming more open for international engagement, according to a new British Council report.
Read more

US
The continuing expansion of online learning in the US
Distance education enrolments continue to increase in the US, with total enrolments of 6.36 million, which equate to nearly 31.6% of all higher education enrolments in the country.
Read more

CANADA
Ontario’s new international strategy for post-secondary education
The Canadian region has released a new strategy, Educating Global Citizens, in a bid to create study abroad opportunities for students, enrich the learning environment at Ontario’s public colleges, and build a stronger workforce by attracting more students to the region.
Read more

GLOBAL
Google invests in app to prep students for TOEFL
Google has announced its investment in an app that helps students prepare for standardised English language tests such as TOEFL. This is part of the company's investment in start-ups offering developing technologies that will broaden features offered by Google’s virtual assistant.
Read more
Alumni embrace tikanga Māori in Vermont
The North American Whānau Council – East Coast is one of three Whānau Councils worldwide (the other two being Europe and the USA’s West Coast) and is made up of AUT alumni who attended the Noho Marae weekend at AUT’s Ngā Wai o Horotiu marae.
There, students learned what it means to be whānau and experienced a range of Māori cultural activities including sleeping on the marae and learning waiata and the haka.
Jason King (centre) Senior Lecturer of the Faculty of Maori & Indigenous Development, AUT with brother Charles and wife Andrea.

Originally a student-driven initiative in Europe, the Whānau Councils are now supported formally by AUT and Jason King, AUT’s Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development. Jason and his wife Andrea make an annual trip to each of the Whānau Councils’ AGMs.
Lewis Gibson, ENZ Field Director, North America, attended this year’s events with students from Champlain College (currently hosting its first Māori student on campus) and the University of Vermont (UVM) where AUT has exchange programmes.
“The Whānau Councils act as local communities for alumni to maintain their connections to each other, New Zealand and Māori culture.
“They’ve also been instrumental in helping US universities connect with their own tangata whenua; the Chief of the Nulhegan Abenaki tribe, Don Stevens, attended Whānau Council events this month to show support. For these students, it was the first time many had had any interaction with the Abenaki.”
Lewis said the experience these students had at AUT’s Noho Marae has profoundly impacted them, turning them into lifelong advocates for New Zealand, its education system and Māori culture.
“By embracing an indigenous culture on the other side of the world these students have found a home away from home and a whānau they belong to.”
This sense of belonging has remained long after those students left New Zealand. Today, a large number of alumni from both UVM and Champlain College have become teachers, sharing Māori culture in their own classrooms with their students.
“By incorporating lessons and culture from New Zealand, these alumni are exposing US students to the benefits of a New Zealand education, as well as actively sharing their positive New Zealand education experiences with their peers in the wider community.
“This encourages more US students to participate in study abroad opportunities in New Zealand, and further entrenches the kiwi connections in Vermont,” Lewis said.
Tauranga welcomes over 770 international students
Anne Young, Regional Manager of Education Tauranga, said it has run a welcome ceremony for new international students for many years but due to space restrictions of venues, this has previously only included a select group of 200 participants.
“This year we wanted to include all students to show the whole Bay of Plenty community how large our international student cohort is. We secured a large convention space (850 seats) and invited all of our new students to the welcome!”
The new students, who range from five years old to tertiary students in their twenties, and represent 25 countries, were treated to dance and musical performances from Indian, Chinese and Korean cultural groups, as well as a rousing kapa haka performance from Tauranga Intermediate’s Te Whanau o Te Maro.
A number of speakers were also on hand to welcome them, including a representative from Immigration New Zealand and Mayor of Tauranga city, Greg Brownless. Mayor Brownless shared his own personal connection with the international community through his Taiwanese wife and children, and said it was great to see so many students from different countries in the region.
“You help bring the world to our doorstep, you teach our Kiwi students about your life, your country and your culture. This is so important as we grow the values of global citizenship amongst our community,” he said.
Anne said it was a very important event for the region.
“We not only want to ensure our international students feel welcome as they embark on their study journey but also showcase the many people across many organisations within our region who are here to support them and ensure that they have a positive experience here.”
It can be particularly daunting for primary school families to send young students overseas for school, so Education Tauranga runs a special welcome tour for them.
Held over two days, children and their parents were treated to a powhiri, complete with a chance to mingle over morning tea. They then had a taste of Kiwi cultural activities such as visits to local sites, eating fish ‘n chips and lessons in harakeke (flax weaving).
“It was clear that the international families were impressed – they were smiling and snapping photos to share with family back home,” said Anne.
Journey to transformational student experience
To tackle this challenge, ENZ and Study Auckland recently undertook an International Student Experience design project.
The goal of the design project was to provide detailed international student experience insights that can help education institutions lift their student satisfaction and referral rates, says ENZ Director of Student Experience, Hayley Shields.
Four areas of opportunity were prioritised: information provision, employability, social connectivity and shared values. From these, guiding principles were developed for how international students’ needs can be addressed to create unique value to the student experience in these areas.
Hayley says the New Zealand industry needs to focus beyond the on-campus experience.
“International students come to New Zealand to experience life beyond their studies and to grow as individuals.
“In true manaakitanga spirit, if we want to host, care for and respect our international students, we need to design programmes that are student centred.”
As part of the report, more than 80 face-to-face conversations were undertaken with students, business people and local community representatives. The students interviewed came from 16 countries in Asia, Latin America and North America.
The findings of the report were also informed by a wide range of international research projects which featured insights from leading global surveys on international student, parental and employer expectations.
The full report can now be accessed in IntelliLab here.
An example of an off-campus student experience was Study Auckland’s Rugby Have-a-Go Day for international students in July, where All Blacks players taught basic rugby skills. Through this, international students had a taste of Kiwi culture, and learned how rugby’s values can help form bonds and leadership skills. You can read more about the experience here.
Education sector delegation for Dubai Expo
The delegates from ENZ, the University of Otago, the University of Waikato, Victoria University of Wellington, Te Pūkenga - New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology and private sector education technology companies ByteEd and ARA Journeys will be in Dubai between 22 and 25 January 2022.
Expo 2020 Dubai is a global trade fair currently being hosted by Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. It was scheduled to get underway in 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ENZ Chief Executive Grant McPherson said the New Zealand Government’s recent announcement that it will relax border requirements for fully vaccinated New Zealanders and foreign nationals in stages next year was a clear signal of the country returning to more normal times.
“The prospect of more open borders in the coming year is a timely reminder of the opportunities that exist to build awareness of New Zealand’s unique education offering,” said Mr McPherson.
“The Expo is a great platform for New Zealand’s education sector to kick start this process at a global event.”
Mr McPherson said the involvement of two leading education technology companies was particularly pleasing as both were introducing leading-edge augmented reality (AR) products to the Expo audience.
ByteEd will be drawing on its web-based platform for teachers and students and introducing AR software to kits for STEM subjects – science, technology engineering and mathematics.
ARA Journeys will profile its award-winning games, which will stream into the New Zealand Pavilion from the company’s Auckland headquarters to offer the full interactive experience to visitors.
“Technology is a core building block for future education initiatives and a key element of the country’s international education strategy,” Mr McPherson said.
“The participation of ByteEd and ARA Journeys at this major international event is a reflection of the forward-looking strategies of both these companies.”
While in Dubai, the delegation aims to foster government and institutional connections and build relationships with agents and students.
The four-day programme, facilitated by ENZ, will centre on Expo 2020 Dubai’s International Day of Education on 24 January 2022. It will include a networking function, seminars and face-to-face meetings with key stakeholders hosted at the New Zealand Pavilion.
Find out more about Expo 2020 Dubai.
ENZ and the New Zealand Film Commission have partnered on the upcoming film Mortal Engines
The partnership is part of the New Zealand Screen Production Grant 5% uplift, which the NZFC administers to international film productions that demonstrate significant economic benefits to New Zealand, including promotion of New Zealand’s education interests.
Production of Mortal Engines took place entirely in New Zealand. More than 1,000 New Zealanders – including crew, cast and craftspeople – were contracted during principal photography. New Zealanders also feature heavily in front of the camera, with more than 70% of the 50 speaking roles going to New Zealanders.
Grant McPherson, ENZ Chief Executive said the partnership with Mortal Engines and the NZFC provides an exceptional opportunity to build brand awareness of New Zealand as a high quality education destination for international students.
“This partnership allows us to showcase New Zealand’s education strengths in the creative arts—in which we are not just world-class but world-leading—and which offer our graduates global-career opportunities.
“It supports our brand positioning of New Zealand as a modern, dynamic and creative country with a lot to offer in the highly competitive international education market.”
Grant welcomed the opportunity to tell the stories of recent graduates and industry professionals who worked on Mortal Engines in ENZ’s global marketing programme.
The announcement coincides with the teaser trailer released yesterday.
Here is Television New Zealand’s One News report of the film partnership.
Mortal Engines opens worldwide in December 2018
Viet Nam kickstarts 2021 with series of offline student events
This January, ENZ’s team in Viet Nam sought out a number of opportunities for New Zealand providers to appear at in-person or hybrid events.
ENZ has also participated in a series of multi-destination education fairs organised by SiPM and ATS at three top high schools in Ha Noi, university admission day in the northern Vĩnh Phúc province, and a New Zealand University Fair co-hosted by ENZ at Nguyen Sieu school (a long-standing partner for several New Zealand institutions).
As travel restrictions are still in place around the world, these fairs are not necessarily aimed towards immediate student attraction. ENZ is attending these events as part of the marketing and brand protection work that comes under the third workstream of the Recovery Plan for International Education.
Many attendees expressed a wish to study in New Zealand, especially after learning about our successful COVID-19 response.
“Students and parents are still concerned about safety and political stability, so New Zealand is currently being viewed as an ideal destination for study when border restrictions are lifted,” ENZ Market Manager – Viet Nam, Van Banh, says.
Viet Nam’s economy was heavily impacted by COVID, but data still shows that Vietnam recorded net positive GDP growth in 2020, which is considered an impressive achievement in the present global context. As a result, other study destinations have also kept their promotional activities warm in this market.