7 June 2021 at 5:01 pm
NauMai NZ is 2
Two years on, its aim remains to better support international students living and studying in New Zealand, and now to respond to the needs of students studying offshore with New Zealand providers.
Since launch, NauMai NZ has had half a million page views and just under 300,000 users accessing practical resources on topics such as Visas and immigration, Personal wellbeing, Housing, and Working, not to mention learning about Māori culture, improving English language skills, making friends, living like a local or getting a part time job.
The platform has a bounce rate of just 15% and 11,500 students have joined the NauMai NZ database. ENZ’s AI chatbot Tohu sits on the platform, and the NauMai NZ WeChat mini programme launched late last year, ensures resources are delivered to the platform of choice for Chinese students.
One focus in 2020 was obviously how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. An official COVID-19 page was launched, collating and curating trusted and relevant government information particular to international students. To accompany this page, a ‘Stay Well, Stay Connected’ page was launched, recognising the particular challenges that the pandemic brings around health and wellbeing. These pages have to date received over 90,000 views.
Throughout 2020, content that wasn’t COVID-19 specific was also developed. Through research, we identified and developed new topics including Managing your money, Sexual healthcare and Dating, relationships and sex.
As the 2020 academic year ended and borders remained closed, the ‘Summer in NZ’ microsite was launched, remaining live until April this year. The purpose was to inform and support students remaining in New Zealand over summer when they would normally return to their families and home country. The Student Experience team at ENZ was very aware that an unexpected summer in New Zealand may put stress on some students.
We pulled together information from multiple sources, including from tourism operators and regional development agencies. Summer partnerships with LinkedIn and AFS New Zealand were also promoted to proactively engage students with their skill development resources.
NauMai NZ is still growing and as 2021 moves at pace, ongoing content development continues alongside user journey review and improvement.
“NauMai NZ is a valuable resource enabling ENZ to communicate with and support international students – particularly during the pandemic,” ENZ Director – Student Experience & Global Citizens, Sahinde Pala, says.
“We look forward to evolving it to better serve students’ needs, both in New Zealand and offshore, in 2021 and beyond.”
2021 brings a complexity of challenges for students. The challenge for NauMai NZ is to meet and address those challenges - better supporting the many students who remain studying in New Zealand and the increasing numbers of those studying offshore with a New Zealand provider, and of course being ready to welcome students when they are able to travel here in the future.
But for now, happy birthday NauMai NZ, and a big thank you from us to everyone who has supported its development and use.
