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  • Mordor Accord

  • Strengthening education links in US

    The trip included speaking at the world’s largest annual international education conference (NAFSA), as well as interviews with international education media including Chronicle of Higher Education, PIE News, and Times Higher Education. Chris Hipkins also met with US government officials and education professionals from various organisations and institutions.    

    The trip began with an open forum discussion with New Zealand education representatives. Chris Hipkins responded to questions relating to the challenges New Zealand faces as it reopens and rebuilds its international education sector. He then met with Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado. Their discussion touched on commonalities between New Zealand and the State of Colorado and compared approaches to education reform and improving education outcomes for students, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds. They also discussed the importance of research collaboration, particularly as it relates to STEM subjects and the global climate crisis. The meeting ended with agreement that deeper relationships between institutions in Colorado and New Zealand would be beneficial.  

    Speaking at the opening plenary at NAFSA, Chris Hipkins emphasised that New Zealand is once again ready to welcome international students. NAFSA leadership invited the Minister to a private reception after the plenary where they shared their enthusiasm for New Zealand reconnecting with the world. During his day at the Denver Convention Center, the Minister also took a tour of the conference exhibit hall, chatting with both New Zealand and international educators.   

    “It was wonderful for the Minister to get this chance to engage with our education providers and get a broader look at the international education field,” says Lisa Futschek, ENZ’s General Manager International. “It was great for him to see how well-regarded New Zealand’s education system is in the global international education ecosystem.”  

    Guests enjoying the New Zealand reception at NAFSA

    Chris Hipkins then met with Deputy Assistant Secretaries of the US State Department’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. He reaffirmed New Zealand’s strong partnership with the US and the international education sector’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through our continued partnership with ECA around the Fulbright and Gilman scholarships, which enable students of limited financial means to study abroad.  

    “The Minister received a very warm welcome from our colleagues at the State Department who were excited to hear our borders are opening,” says Education Counsellor to the US and ENZ’s Regional Director to the Americas, Middle East and Europe, Amy Rutherford. “It’s great to have such a strong relationship with a government’s education agency committed to the same values that we are.”  

    A variety of organisations involved with the delivery of international education in the US also met with Chris Hipkins for a roundtable discussion. This covered the unique opportunities for New Zealand in the international education sector and what sets us apart from other countries and their education systems.   

    (l to r) Education Minister Chris Hipkins, Kahle Charles, Assistant Superintendent of Assessment, Curriculum and Instruction, St Vrain Valley School District and Scott Cardwell, Co-founder and CEO, ImmerseMe. Mr Charles is signing the agreement between St Vrain and ImmerseMe.

    On the final day of his visit, Chris Hipkins headed to Xero’s Denver headquarters to participate in a roundtable discussion with several principals and school superintendents in surrounding Denver school districts, as well as the New Zealand edtech company ImmerseMe and representatives from JillE Literacy. The conversation touched on the changing face of early childhood and school education due to COVID. Panellists were interested in the approaches and policies being implemented in New Zealand and all were agreed that we would benefit from working together and learning from each other to improve education outcomes. At the end of the roundtable, the Minister witnessed the signing of a seven-year partnership agreement between ImmerseMe and St. Vrain Valley School District, and the gifting of GlobalEd’s JillE Literacy books to roundtable participants.  

    The Minister’s involvement, along with the launch of the I AM NEW global marketing campaign, certainly helped lift New Zealand’s profile at NAFSA. There was a lot of interest inNew Zealand’s announcement of reconnecting with the world, and the eight universities and Te Pūkenga were kept busy meeting with partners each day of the conference.   

    The trip strengthened our connections with the international education community, including with US study abroad professionals recruiting students to study in New Zealand. As study abroad applications begin to open for January 2023 study, thanks to the Minister’s visit to NAFSA, the international education community will be well aware that New Zealand is ready to host students and can provide a unique and high-quality education experience.   

  • afs

  • Creating a China-first digital ecosystem

    Western websites and social media platforms have issues with accessibility, performance and loading speed in China, so ENZ has had to create bespoke digital technology to share the New Zealand education story with Chinese students.

    ENZ carried out focus groups with Chinese international students to gather insights while designing the website to ensure it met the needs of a Chinese audience.

    Its new website has a China domain name (.cn), has been search engine-optimised and is tracked with Baidu analytics (China’s equivalent of Google).

    The site has also been integrated with ENZ’s database marketing system, enabling ENZ to follow up leads and capture marketing data. Having a .cn domain name enables ENZ to run a marketing campaign to boost its search rankings in Baidu.

    The site works strategically with ENZ’s account on WeChat, China’s most popular social media app with more than one billion users.

    ENZ has had an account on WeChat since 2014, and now has more than 53,000 followers.

    In October last year, ENZ brought My StudyNZ to WeChat. My StudyNZ provides personalised study matches for international students exploring study in New Zealand.

    Three-quarters of people using My StudyNZ on WeChat browse their study matches for almost two minutes, which is a good level of engagement.

    Students using My StudyNZ in China are more likely to fund their own studies than students globally (76% compared to 33%) and more likely to have tuition budgets of more than $30,000 (30% compared to 15%). Ten percent are interested in studying at a school, compared to 3% of students globally, which illustrates the high value of this market.

    ENZ’s International Social Engagement Specialist, Nicole Baird, said ENZ has a frequent calendar of social media posts to engage with its WeChat audience.

    “We are also increasing our capabilities to segment our WeChat audience to direct content specific to each follower’s needs,” Nicole said.

    ENZ’s Digital Programme Manager, Lucia Alarcon, said ENZ’s bigger and more robust ecosystem offers useful insights to help inform its marketing strategy.

    “We are able to strengthen and increase our data capabilities and gain insights to inform our marketing decisions.”

    Visit the China site here. Read more about My StudyNZ on WeChat here, or take a look at it by searching for its official Chinese name on WeChat (新西兰留学规划) or by scanning this QR code:

    QR code

  • ENZ working with INZ

    John Goulter, General Manager, Stakeholder and Communications, says “ENZ has been continuing to monitor international and domestic market reaction to student visa processing delays being experienced”. 

    John confirms “ENZ is working with INZ to find ways to help providers through the current situation.  Both agencies have developed a joint work programme.  High level deliverables have been agreed and detailed planning is underway”.

    Priority areas for the work programme include an overarching plan focused on communicating what INZ is doing to address processing pressures and how INZ and ENZ can align activities to help providers deliver on the goals of the International Education Strategy – to attract high quality students – including:

    • Information-sharing in relation to ENZ marketing strategies
    • Developing visa application checklists to help students provide complete applications.
    • Early communication of concerns/issues identified that could affect the sector (e.g. emerging immigration risks identified in markets, where appropriate)
    • Co-developing market reports to help the sector with key information about priority markets

  • ELEVATE 284

  • Minister Hipkins

  • Picture5

  • Next webinar for the schools’ sector – 20 March 2024

    Join Mary Camp on Wednesday March 20th 11:00 – 12:15 for discussion on the theme: 

    Growing Positive Public Perceptions of International Education. 

    Session highlights: 

    • Marie Clark, ENZ Director Insights, will present recent research on New Zealanders’ perceptions of international education 

    • Sai Raje, ENZ Senior Advisor Communications, will show us a toolkit for communicating the benefits of international education in your communities  

    • We’d love to hear your tips of what you’ve seen work well in harnessing community support for your international programmes.  

    Next webinars (topics TBC):

    • Wednesday 17 April 

    • Wednesday 15 May 

    • Wednesday 19 June.  

    Register in advance for these webinars: https://enz.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0od-Cprj0iHdYcue0gGAXPY04bC7cMjPps  

    You can register once and attend any or all sessions. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 

    Please note these sessions are for NZ schools only – agents should check out https://agentlab.enz.govt.nz/ 

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