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• Māori and First Nations people connect during University of Toronto visit

  18 indigenous students and two indigenous staff from the University of Toronto’s ‘First Nations House’ were invited to Aotearoa New Zealand for a week-long visit at Tirorangi Marae at the base of Mount Ruapehu in July. 

  The purpose of the visit was to enhance cross-cultural understanding between Māori and First Nations and Métis peoples and is significant as empowering iwi and hapū in the international education space is an important Te Tiriti obligation for ENZ, as an Aotearoa New Zealand government agency.  

  The visit took place during the time of ‘Puanga’ which is when the single star rises higher in the sky than the Matariki star cluster and is recognised by iwi and hapū that can’t see the Matariki cluster from their location.  

  

  Māori and First Nations and Métis people have ’sharing circles’ as a common way to teach and learn.

  The group participated in a wide range of activities in the area while staying at the marae. They were then welcomed to Te Whanganui-a-Tara by the ENZ Wellington office, visiting Te Tiriti o Waitangi at Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and and Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, before finishing their trip in Whakatū (Nelson) with some adventure tourism activities. 

  

  Indigenous students Kieren and Bailey from the University of Toronto sampling Wellington’s outdoors with ENZ's Craig Rofe.

  The First Nations and Métis members of the group experienced what living on a marae was like and were also immersed in how a tribe engages with the environment, and how iwi businesses, local council and government agencies such as the Department of Conservation (DOC) operate in the field with iwi partnership. 

  

  Iwi people sharing lake Rotokura’s healing power, a wāhi tapu (sacred place) for the local tribe.

  Dr Craig Rofe, ENZ’s Kaitohutohu Matua Māori – Senior Advisor Māori, said that during the visit, Māori and First Nations and Métis people were able to compare the similarities and differences of their contexts to grow understand of their respective challenges and successes.  

  “The First Nations people’s struggles to overcome racism and prejudice resonated with tangata whenua, in particular the intentional elimination of language and the current mechanisms of revitalisation. 

  “Many stories shared with together showed the everyday trauma that resides in each of us and how, as indigenous people, we try to navigate these obstacles to make a better world for the next generation”, said Dr Rofe.  

  The trip motivated the students to connect more with their languages and culture upon their return.  

  Kenzie, from the Mohawk tribe said “when we meet again, I’ll be able to talk to you in my language, I’m declaring it!”. 

  Katherine from the Eskasoni First Nation tribe said “My experience connecting with the Ngāti Rangi revealed the transformative power of global Indigenous connections. Participating in ceremonies such as Hautapu and visiting Mount Ruapehu was particularly moving. Listening to their stories of ancestral ties to the land and taking part in traditional ceremonies that emphasized community and connection to the environment deepened my own personal understanding. This experience inspired me to initiate conversations with elders in my own community about our traditional land management practices.” 

  This experience also highlights the important offerings that Māori, and indeed indigenous knowledge, has to offer to international education. In particular, and not exclusively, the deep connection that indigenous peoples have with the environment and therefore natural obligation of care. 

  

  First Nation student, Alexis, discovers the origins, medicinal, spiritual and mechanical properties of harakeke (flax).

  Sustainable practices and programmes can benefit from indigenous inclusion and perspectives, especially with the large-scale impacts of global warming and general pollution in many countries. The co-governance structure that Ngāti Rangi iwi and DOC work with as part of post Te Tiriti Settlement was used as an example of decolonised solutions within our New Zealand context. 

  There have been discussions between ENZ, Ngāti Rangi iwi, and the University of Toronto about an ongoing relationship and considering what a reciprocal engagement might look like moving forward. 

   

  Nāku te ika i hī, nāku anō i whakatau  

  Ki te haere, whāia i te Pare-i-te-taitonga, tērā taku ika. 

  This is a Ngāti Rangi iwi reference to the Ruapehu mountain being the ‘pillar post’ of the ‘Fish’ (North Island).

   

• 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.

  Read the announcement here.

• 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

• EdTech famil programme provides eyes on New Zealand for innovation

  The programme included visits to Singapore, Viet Nam and Indonesia by a New Zealand delegation that included nine companies. The nine companies had a diverse range of education expertise, products and services from cutting edge Neuroscience for early childhood education to delivering TV-style drama series for English language education young adults.  Six core companies participated across the three counties - Language fuel, Neurofrog, Chasing time English, StepsWeb, Jix Reality, and PipiLearning, while three additional companies already in the regions  Writers' toolbox,Komodo wellbeing and Kami, joined the Singapore programme for specific elements. 

  The programme included meetings with the Ministries of Education of all three countries, specifically to understand the digital adoption and education roadmaps of each. Singapore shared their Transformation of education technology masterplan 2030 as a capability multiplier for educators and learners, and Viet Nam shared their focus on and investment in technology and management systems and using education technology to build the human potential of their citizens. Indonesia shared their Super App which allows for their 646.2 thousand schools, 4.2 million teachers and lecturers and 71 million students to all benefit from the large-scale acceleration of an economy moving at pace with a firm policy that ‘no one is left behind’. 

  Alana Pellow, ENZ’s Business Development Manager, led the delegation and said that the programme was carefully put together to ensure the visit was as much about showcasing New Zealand’s expertise and innovation in EdTech as it was to learn about what other countries and leaders in this space are doing.  

  “Across the three countries, the EdTech companies had the opportunity to meet and visit education providers from schoolteachers and leaders, vocational education providers and universities to education enrichment centers. They also heard from New Zealand business leaders and government agencies in each region, as well as had briefings and networking with local EdTech owners to gain a deep understanding of the economic and EdTech landscapes in each country. 

  “The public, private and enrichment education landscapes, which offer significant opportunity for EdTech’s, was a great eye opener particularly in Early Childhood Education (ECE), English language, literacy and English language teacher’s space.  

  “For example, in Viet Nam it is not uncommon for parents to spend 30% of their income on education – including after school enrichment education such is the ambition of parents for their children,” said Alana. 

  The private school market across all three markets is viewed as particularly significant for New Zealand. During the visit, it was noted by a number of diverse education related professionals how the New Zealand EdTech group were subject matter experts with education specific capabilities and expertise across many areas from linguistics, literacy, English language, teaching, academic R&D and collaboration with recognised and respected global experts such as – Oxford University Press, Oxford University, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore, Institute of Technolgy Education and the University of Auckland. 

  Interest in New Zealand’s Education Technology was picked up by the local press in Indonesia and Viet Nam, with Viet Nam in particular seeing 17 stories feature across its various media channels. This has provided valuable visibility of New Zealand’s innovation and expertise in digital education across a wide education subsector value base from ECE and K-14 to R&D at tertiary level. Positive leads have followed and the founder and CEO of SIS and Inspirasi schools, which has schools across Indonesia, South Korea, Myanmar, and India, has already been in touch with two of the NZ EdTech companies to explore future collaboration. 

  

  Meeting with Politeknik Negeri Jakarta (VET) Indonesia.

  

  ENZ’s EdTech delegation meeting with Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc, Deputy Director (Digital Transformation), and colleagues at the HCMC Department of Education & Training, Ho Chi Mihn City, Viet Nam.

  The delegation also attended the EDUtech Asia Policy Summit in Singapore where education, education policy makers and education technology solution providers came together from across Southeast Asia. Highlights included:

  1. The pace and scale at which many SEA countries are upskilling and shifting their policy and philosophy to equip their educators, citizens and systems to be meaningfully productive.
  2. That digital literacy training is not just the domain of learners.  Educators also need high quality digital training, materials and resources. 
  3. Artificial Intelligence is forcing a rethink on everything and in assessments, what do we care about assessing? Knowledge attainment or the deep skills for being human?  
  4. Partnership is hard but offers competitive advantage and ‘’success’’ when human skills are done well, and many global universities are doing partnership well and reaping the rewards. 

  Any New Zealand EdTech and Education publisher companies interested in finding out more about the SEA market can contact Alana Pellow - alana.pellow@enz.govt.nz 

  

  ENZ’s EdTech delegation meeting with Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc, Deputy Director (Digital Transformation), and colleagues at the HCMC Department of Education & Training, Ho Chi Mihn City, Viet Nam.

• Students flocking to Study in New Zealand website

  SiNZ is now the top-ranking site in Google results for people in the UK, US, India, Thailand and Viet Nam when they search ‘studying in New Zealand’. It also ranks highly for ‘cost of living New Zealand’ and ‘universities in New Zealand’.

  From December 2016 to January 2017, organic (unpaid) traffic to SiNZ increased by 24%, which means that the site is easier to find online. The SiNZ pages driving the most organic traffic include Scholarships, Study options and Work while you study.

  Lucia Alarcon, ENZ’s International Digital Project Manager, said SEO (search engine optimisation) is a long-term strategy that helps make the site increasingly easy to find online.

  "Having a SEO strategy helps to drive the right traffic to studyinnewzealand.govt.nz, growing value and conversion opportunities,” said Lucia.

  As a result of this work, the bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who leave the site after seeing only one page) dropped from 15% to 13% between December 2016 and January this year.

  Organic visits from mobile phones have increased 61% since July last year, corresponding with an impressive 70% increase in referral conversions from mobile phones. The site has also had a 44% increase in organic visits from tablet devices since last July.

  These results demonstrate the importance of the site in raising awareness of the benefits of studying in New Zealand and in increasing referrals to institutions.

  Other work contributing to these results includes better use of insights to create more engaging content, and tighter integration of social media channels with SEO, which ensures a more secure website that meets Google’s mobile-friendly criteria.

• Simone Grilli

• University of Waikato announces pioneering international partnership

  In September 2017, the University of Waikato will launch a joint Institute with Zheijiang University City College [ZUCC], offering Chinese students the opportunity to enrol in one of three undergraduate degrees in China with the University of Waikato providing the degrees and teaching staff.

  On completion, the Chinese students will receive a degree from both universities.

  University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor, Professor Neil Quigley, says the initiative complements other joint programmes the University has been running in China over the past 20 years.

  "The University is committed to growing its off-shore delivery, and transnational education plays an important role in the University’s internationalisation strategy," said Professor Quigley.

  Education New Zealand [ENZ] supported the preparation of the bid for initial submission to the Chinese Ministry of Education and the redevelopment of the Academic English part of the programme.

  Grant McPherson, ENZ Chief Executive, says that in a global context transnational education is not only a growth area, but an important contributor to supporting the international reputation and brand of the provider, and New Zealand.

  “We are delighted to see the University of Waikato expand offshore, with an approach that builds on an existing relationship and seamlessly aligns with the University’s offering,” said Mr McPherson. 

  The application process for approval of the institute was rigorous, including examination by the Provincial Ministry of Education and the Chinese Ministry of Education in Beijing.

  The first intake of students will be able to study for degrees in finance, media and creative technologies, and computer graphic design.

  The programmes included in the partnership were selected based on demand. The finance degree has been available to ZUCC students since 2008 but the students were required to complete the qualification in New Zealand. The partnership with the University of Waikato was established in 2002.

  "The finance degree was a popular choice with students when we began our partnership with ZUCC,” said Professor Quigley. 

  “The addition of media and creative technologies and computer graphic design relates well to the location of ZUCC in Hangzhou, which is a hub for technology and creative practices." 

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