10 October 2018 at 9:00 am
Kiwi schools hit the road in the Philippines
Four international schools, 16 New Zealand education providers and 14 education agencies joined the ENZ Schools Roadshow in the Philippines last month.
Led by a team of ENZ staff, the group made the journey through Manila and Cebu over one week in September in a (very cosy) ENZ bus.
Desiree Lee, ENZ’s Market Manager, Malaysia and Philippines, said it was great to see the camaraderie shared by New Zealand providers and the shared vision of promoting New Zealand education to the world.
“We had a blast hosting our energetic providers from the university, ITP, PTE and school sectors across the Philippines. We braved the Manila traffic together, met with more than 200 international school students whose interests ranged from medicine to creative writing.”
The providers had another chance to meet school counsellors, New Zealand alumni and parents at the ENZ Networking Night hosted by Ambassador to the Philippines, David Strachan, at the Official Residence.
“Most Filipino students considering study abroad are from the private education network and, to attract these students to New Zealand, we have to be prepared to compete against strong brand names like there are in the US,” explains Desiree.
“The US is the most high-profile study destination for Filipino students, with a very active in-market presence including many Ivy League names such as Stanford University.
“Targeted activities such as the Schools Roadshow is a chance to get some face time with these students and present our unique offering.”
The tour of the Philippines was capped off with an oversubscribed agent seminar in Cebu, where Immigration New Zealand gave key market updates.
“They revealed that Cebu, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Davao del Sur and Cavite are the top five regions where student applicants are coming from.
“INZ also highly recommends the use of its online application platform which is far more cost and time efficient.”
New Zealand providers included Carmel College, Rangitoto College, University of Auckland, Massey University, ACG Education, Ara Institute of Canterbury, Southern Institute of Technology, Toi Ohomai, WelTec & Whitireia, Eastern Institute of Technology, Manukau Institute of Technology, Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, and more.