5 August 2015 at 9:00 am
Agent engagement in Thailand
The Education New Zealand (ENZ) Marketing and Strategic Relations Manager in Thailand, Chortip Pramoolpol, organised a well-attended agent training workshop on 22 July 2015, with 75 representatives from 47 education agencies across Thailand and two representatives from the Office of the Civil Service Commission under the Ministry of Education Thailand attending.
Delivering his welcome speech, H.E. Mr Reuben Levermore, New Zealand’s Ambassador to Thailand, emphasised the niche strengths of New Zealand education; how we can best stand out from crowd and the importance of agents as key partners in raising awareness.
The workshop included speakers from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and Immigration New Zealand, Thai government partners and local New Zealand alumni, to help give agents a good understanding of the value of New Zealand’s education offering and to provide them with a range of tools to sell New Zealand as an education destination.
Chortip took a new approach to the workshops – presenting on market trends and statistics, while also showcasing niche courses offered in New Zealand such as film, animation and sports management. The workshop topics included: cyber security and health IT in Thailand; labour market information; overseas engineering programme accreditation and approval by the Council of Engineers Thailand; criteria for establishing equivalence for New Zealand education qualifications by the Bureau of Education Testing under the Thai Ministry of Education; and ‘Apply on Behalf’ online visa application training by Immigration New Zealand.
This was the first full day workshop delivered in this style offered to Thai education agents and was well received by participants. ENZ will continue to support agents in Thailand in promoting New Zealand as a study destination, with further activities planned in the coming year.