30 August 2017 at 9:00 am
The future of international student recruitment from China
New Zealand’s safe and welcoming environment is becoming increasingly attractive to Chinese parents, according to President Zhou Chenggang of New Oriental Education and Technology Group.
Speaking as one of the NZIEC’s keynote speakers, President Zhou Chenggang explained that there is an emerging trend of parents with younger children wanting to give them the advantage of an international education and New Zealand should harness this opportunity.
Mr Zhou said Chinese parents make careful, rational decisions about where their younger children should study, planning one to two years in advance. With the current world climate, he suggested that New Zealand institutions should highlight not only the high quality education their children will receive, but also the fact that New Zealand is a safe and welcoming country.
Mr Zhou also said New Zealand should highlight our vocational offerings, which were less well known in China and having more choices would also appeal to Chinese parents.
According to Mr Zhou, having clear, straight-forward application processes and building relationships with more Chinese colleges will benefit.
“China will keep encouraging our kids to learn from the West. So many institutions in China are eager to work with colleges but don’t know where to go or who to talk to.”
More than 38,000 Chinese students studied in New Zealand in 2016. This was a 13% increase in total enrolments from 2015.
