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• Mortal Engines offers ENZ opportunity to showcase education strengths in creative arts to prospective students

  The New Zealand premiere of Mortal Engines took place in Auckland last night and the film is released to New Zealand audiences from today.

  ENZ and the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) have partnered with Universal Pictures, MRC and Hungry City Limited on the film as part of the New Zealand Screen Production Grant 5% uplift.

  ENZ Chief Executive Grant McPherson says this partnership is a great opportunity to build awareness of New Zealand’s world-leading education system – particularly in the creative industries.

  “Mortal Engines marks a real shift in the New Zealand story we want to tell the world,” Mr McPherson says.

  “This film was made in New Zealand not because of the beauty of our landscapes but because of the depth of talent and level of technical sophistication available here.

  “The partnership allows us to showcase New Zealand’s education strengths in the creative arts. It supports our brand positioning of New Zealand as a modern, dynamic and innovative country with a lot to offer in the highly competitive international education market.”

  The last few years have already seen growing numbers of international students studying creative arts in New Zealand – 5,139 in 2017, up 24% on 2012.

  Principal photography took place in Wellington in early 2017, and involved more than 1000 New Zealanders including crew, cast and craftspeople. The film was shot at Stone Street and Avalon Studios and at a few small local exterior locations. Post production was completed by Park Road Post Production with visual effects work realised by Academy-Award winning company Weta Digital.

  Crew members included recent graduates (including several former international students): an assistant props designer who studied Industrial Design at Victoria University of Wellington, an apprentice editor who studied at South Seas Film School in Auckland, a film editor with a Bachelor of Digital Design from Auckland University of Technology, and a visual special effects capture booth photographer who studied animation at Yoobee School.

  Grant says the partnership has provided an opportunity for ENZ to tell graduates’ stories to other prospective international students through an integrated promotional campaign, including PR, digital marketing and social media activity across our channels which have more than one million followers.

  The campaign will begin in January 2019. There will be a Mortal Engines page on the Study in New Zealand website which will encourage prospective students to sign up to ENZ’s database. A series of emails will follow to this qualified audience providing information about a variety of design disciplines and courses related to filmmaking.

  “Our goal is to generate awareness of New Zealand’s specialised courses and hands-on learning style in the creative industries through sharing videos and profiles celebrating our graduates who worked on the film,” says Grant.

  “We look forward to getting the marketing campaign underway next month, and attracting more high-quality, creative international students to study in our institutions.”

  You can read the full media release here.

• Calling all China research specialists

  Since its inception in 2005, the Tripartite Fund has supported the development of strategic research relationships between New Zealand and China. 

  Universities are invited to submit proposals for the latest round, with up to $30,000 available per application to support quality, high-level research and collaboration. The fund seeks to initiate new tripartite partnerships and facilitate the development of existing partnerships between a New Zealand university and two Chinese partner universities.  

  Eligible Tripartite Fund subjects can be drawn from the arts, humanities, social sciences, sciences and applied sciences including agriculture, food safety, conservation, forestry, advanced materials engineering and environmental science. 

  The Tripartite Fund has enabled many high-achieving New Zealand academics to develop relationships with Chinese research partners.

  Since 2009, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) has worked on tripartite collaborative projects with Shanghai Jiao-Tong University (SJTU) and Xinjiang University in China.

  Nikola Kasabov, AUT Professor of Computer Science and Director KEDRI, said that the ‘three brothers’ partners have exchanged multiple visits of both staff members and students.

  “The outcomes have been outstanding, including a large number of joint papers published in international journals and conferences, joint methods and software development in computational intelligence and applications in health, environment protection, and predicting hazardous events.”

  Professor Kasabov was also appointed as Advisory Professor to SJTU, meeting with PhD students and staff on an annual basis.

  “The collaboration helps staff and students to work together on new frontiers of information and computer sciences and technologies along with important applications for both countries.”

  The deadline for applications is 1 March 2019, with a project start date of 1 May 2019, and end 30 April 2020.

  Please complete the application form and submit it to china@enz.govt.nz

• New Export Education Levy rates released

  The levy rate for PTEs will increase from 0.45% to 0.89% of international student tuition fees, and from 0.45% to 0.50% for universities, ITPs and private schools (the levy paid by state- and state-integrated schools remains unchanged for 2019).

  The new rates take effect from 1 January 2019. Payments for trimester one 2019 will be at the new rates while payments made in January or February 2019 for trimester three 2018 will be at the old rate.

  The levy is collected from providers to fund a broad range of activities including marketing and promotion. It also funds reimbursements for international students caught out by Private Training Establishment (PTE) programme and provider closures.

  The levy fund almost ran out this year due to pay-outs resulting from closures at PTEs.

  Consultation on proposed changes to raise the EEL rate took place from 18 September to 15 October 2018.

  “We have listened to feedback from the sector and have decided on a balanced approach to address some of the key concerns raised during consultation, including the financial impacts on the sector, while continuing to address the immediate financial pressures on the EELs,” said Education Minister Chris Hipkins.

  “This is the first increase to the EEL in its 15 years. The Ministry of Education is doing its bit by reducing annual expenditure commitments against the levy by $300,000.”

  Further work is being done to investigate ways to address other sector concerns, including recognising quality in the PTE sector. Any changes would be the subject of consultation with the sector.

  For further information, see Mr Hipkins’ announcement on the Beehive website.

• Future Proof 2.0 campaign increases student engagement

  While ENZ’s first Future Proof campaign in March 2018 was designed to raise awareness of New Zealand’s ranking as first in the world for preparing students for the future, Future Proof 2.0 evolved to focus on lead conversion. To do this, ENZ showcased some of the exceptional teachers and academics who make New Zealand’s education system world leading.

  The result was a 42 percent increase in active visits on the Study in New Zealand website and over 9,000 new leads to the ENZ database, which is a 208 percent increase compared with Future Proof 1.0.

  “While the majority of these leads are interested in bachelor’s or master’s degrees, there was an increase in students interested in New Zealand secondary schools too. In fact, it was the biggest interest in schools that we’ve seen from a campaign to date," says Patrick Holden, ENZ’s Digital Media Project Manager.

  “Furthermore, we polled users of the Future Proof landing page asking ‘How likely are you to consider studying abroad in New Zealand’ – over 82% said they were either ‘very likely’ or ‘somewhat likely’ to choose New Zealand. That’s a fantastic result.”

  Thirty-eight percent of users of the Study in New Zealand website said they’re intending to leave to study abroad within 1-6 months, followed by 25% within 6-12 months and 37% one or two years away.

  “As many of these students are still in the consideration/research phase of deciding on a country to study abroad, our database marketing enables us to engage with these students to promote New Zealand.

  ENZ’s Facebook followers were also highly engaged with the campaign content, with an 11.8% engagement rate (nearly double the 6% benchmark). Messenger inquiries from prospective students showed interest in master’s education, praise for New Zealand’s teaching quality and questions about student visa requirements.

  “These specific enquiries indicate the audience is moving through the conversion process, from discovering New Zealand to deciding on a study programme here,” says Patrick.

  “This is a result of having an accurate targeting strategy in place to help attract the right type of student leads.”

• Seeking schools for Digital Lead Research Project

  The research project will help ENZ improve the effectiveness of ENZ’s digital marketing campaigns for the school sector, including the quality of the prospective student leads generated.

  The project is being carried out by Enroller on behalf of ENZ and will take place between December 2018 and May 2019.

  Participating schools will be provided with lead management software for the duration of the research* to help them evaluate the usefulness of ENZ digital leads alongside their other existing channels.

  Clive Jones, ENZ’s General Manager, Strategy and Insight, says the aim is to better understand and improve ENZ’s digital channels to ensure New Zealand schools get the most value.

  “We’re particularly interested in understanding the current volume and conversion rate of our digital leads for schools alongside existing recruitment channels – with the aim of improving the relevance and value of our digital leads for the school sector,” says Clive.

  “Places in the research project are strictly limited, and we’re keen to get underway as soon as possible.”

  If you are willing and able to assist, please contact ebd@enz.govt.nz before 20 December 2018.

  *Some terms and conditions will apply.  No upfront or setup costs involved but a success fee may be payable for every international student enrolled.

• Letter from the CE: Updating ENZ's business model

  Since its launch in August by Minister Chris Hipkins, ENZ has been reviewing our operational structure and approach to ensure they’re consistent with both the Strategy’s objectives as well as the Minister’s Letter of Expectations.

  Our review has also been informed by industry surveys and discussions with staff.

  We’re working to maximise international education’s benefit to New Zealand. We need to optimise current opportunities to build a sustainable future for the sector and to create new opportunities for growth.

  Coming out of the review, we have established some new and revised roles at ENZ. We are recruiting (internally and externally) for the following senior positions – please go to ENZ’s Careers page for more information on the roles and how to apply:

  • General Manager Strategy, Insight and Planning – this senior leadership role will be responsible for all strategic projects related to future-focused thinking and implementation, business intelligence and insights, and ENZ planning and performance.

  • General Manager Industry and Students – this senior leadership role will be responsible for strengthening the connections between education providers and international students by bringing together ENZ’s international marketing, brand development, industry development and channels teams.

  • Director, Industry – this role will be responsible for leading and managing initiatives to build the capability and capacity of New Zealand’s international education industry.

  • Director, Greater China – this China-based role will be responsible for managing, leading and supporting ENZ’s China teams and leveraging opportunities with other NZ Inc agencies both in-market and New Zealand to promote New Zealand education.

  With the approach of Christmas and New Zealand’s summer holiday period, we have decided to leave the application period open till 9am, Tuesday 22 January 2019.

  This change process will be ongoing over the next few months and we will keep you informed throughout.

   

  Grant McPherson

  Chief Executive, Education New Zealand

  

   

   

   

   

   

• Introducing International Education Sector Future Directions

  “The challenge sector representatives are seeking to address is to identify a series of priorities and actions in international education that can be worked on collaboratively,” said ENZ Chief Executive Grant McPherson.

  The programme is complementary to the recently launched cross-government International Education Strategy for New Zealand, which was co-developed by ENZ and the Ministry of Education. 

  “Priorities identified through the workshops include more collaboration, facilitating student pathways, joint activation of new markets offshore and prioritising the student when it comes to decision making,” said Grant.   

  The work was initially proposed at September’s International Education Peak Body Forum, attended by representatives of Universities New Zealand, ITP International, Quality Tertiary Institutions, Independent Tertiary Education NZ (ITENZ), English NZ, Schools International Education Business Association of NZ (SIEBA) and Independent Schools NZ.

  Five sub-sector workshops were held in October and November, run by an independent facilitator, with a range of representatives attending each. Areas of common interest were fed into a pan-sector workshop at the end of November. The Peak Body Forum will govern the process from this point.

  “This piece of work is a long-term project – and we plan to keep the sector as updated as possible throughout the process to ensure everyone has the chance to contribute,” said Grant.

  International education providers can find the summary report of work to date in IntelliLab here, which includes information about how to get involved.  

• Consultation on proposed changes to Rule 18

  NZQA is consulting on the following proposed changes to the NZQF Programme Approval and Accreditation Rules 2018:

  1. Removing the student visa decline rate from Rule 18. This would no longer be the measure for when prior schooling with English as the language of instruction could be used as evidence of English proficiency.
  2. To use this provision, international students would need to have either
  • a) completed their schooling in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the UK or the United States; or
  • b) been awarded an internationally recognised qualification taught in English such as an International Baccalaureate Diploma or Cambridge ‘A’ Levels.

  Dr Grant Klinkum, NZQA Deputy Chief Executive Quality Assurance, says the proposed changes respond to risks that NZQA and Immigration New Zealand have identified in the tertiary education sector.

  “The student visa decline does not reliably reflect English language proficiency, and the countries involved had varying levels of quality within their English medium schooling options.

  “We believe using prior schooling where English was the language of instruction will be a stronger indicator of English proficiency.”

  NZQA is seeking feedback on the proposed changes, including what steps and how long your organisation would need to adapt to these changes, and if there are any other internationally recognised secondary qualifications taught and assessed in English that you would like to see included in Rule 18.

  Consultation closes 11 February 2019.

  To find out more and to complete the consultation survey, click here.

• High numbers of student and visitor visa applications

  Jeannie Melville, INZ’s Assistant General Manager, Visa Services says this is typical for this time of year and will likely continue until March 2019.

  “Due to the high application volumes currently being received, we strongly recommend that visitor and student visa applications are submitted as early as possible.

  “Student visas should be submitted at least eight weeks ahead of their intended travel date, while visitor visas should be submitted as soon as possible in advance of travel. This gives INZ time to assess the application and gather more information from the applicant if needed.”

  The fastest and easiest way to apply for a visa is to use the Immigration Online system via the INZ website, where applicants can upload supporting documents, photographs and pay for their application.

  While INZ makes every effort to streamline assessment of applications, applicants may experience longer timeframes if they do not supply all required information (including translations) when they submit their application. If they do not supply the correct information this could hold up the processing of their visa.

  INZ does not advise purchase of travel before an application is completed as the grant of a visa is not guaranteed. In particular, assessment of visitor visa applications will not be prioritised if the sole reason is that the applicant has pre-purchased travel.

  Education providers can refer students to the INZ website for visa processing timeframes, which applicants should take into account when applying for their visa and planning their travel.

• Chinese students engage with My StudyNZ WeChat

  In October, ENZ brought My StudyNZ to WeChat, a social media platform with more than one billion users.   

  Students enter their study intentions into the programme and receive suggestions of institutions or courses that closely match. This enables ENZ to drive high value leads to New Zealand institutions and ENZRA agents from China. 

  Lucia Alarcon, ENZ’s Digital Programme Manager, said as ENZ has had a WeChat account since 2014, it made sense to build on the existing social community which is easier for Chinese students to use than the China version of the Study in New Zealand website. 

  “It has enabled us to engage with students in a more personal way, and to share tailored information. It also provides a more seamless user experience for the student, allowing them to assess study options using their mobile phones, and to contact institutions directly if they want.  

  “While it’s early days, we’re already seeing high-quality leads coming through.”  

  My StudyNZ China has gained strong interest from Chinese students, particularly those with an interest in tertiary and secondary institutions:

  

  ENZ’s efforts in China have included a media campaign using WeChat banner ads with Future Proof key messages and an invitation to join ENZ’s social community on WeChat. Seen by more than three million prospective students and parents so far, this has helped increase ENZ’s WeChat followers by 25 percent. 

  “Our Future Proof Campaign and Wechat development are part of a wider programme of work in China. As we continue investing in our China audience, we will also find new ways to reach students and share useful information personalised to their study plans,” said Lucia.