13 May 2015 at 9:00 am
ENZ asks Saudi students: WhyNewZealand?
Prime Minister John Key led a trade delegation to the Middle East during April a visit highlighted by his launch of Education New Zealand's #WhyNewZealand social media campaign in Riyadh.
The 18-member trade delegation included Chief Executives of six education organisations, and the visit provided great opportunities to promote New Zealand’s education system and to profile education companies doing business in the region. The Middle East is New Zealand’s largest export market for the delivery of education products and services, and the sixth largest recruitment market for students.
The #WhyNewZealand campaign targets entries via www.whynz.com and has the primary aim of raising awareness of New Zealand as a study destination. This is Education New Zealand’s first social media campaign in the Middle East and a competition is being run in conjunction with it whereby Saudi students have a chance to win one of eight English language scholarships on offer by promoting New Zealand on Twitter and Facebook. In the 12 days since its launch #WhyNewZealand has already attracted over 9,000 Twitter followers.
As well as participating in events associated with the Prime Minister’s visit, the university and ITP delegation members attended the International Exhibition and Conference on Higher Education (IECHE) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and the Global Higher Education Exhibition (GHEDEX) in Muscat, Oman. The IECHE event week in Riyadh provided an opportunity to launch ENZ’s new Arabic language Study in New Zealand website, as well as Twitter and Facebook pages. A broad mix of Saudi education stakeholders heard from University of Canterbury alumnus, Saleh Alkhozaim, about his experience of studying in New Zealand, and an agent networking event was held to broaden the champions promoting New Zealand as a study destination.
The Middle East region continues to show positive signals for growth, with high levels of engagement via social media; increased investment across Middle Eastern countries in education infrastructure, programmes, and technical and vocational education. If you are interested in discussing the business prospects for your organisation in the Middle East region, send an email to middleeast@enz.govt.nz.
