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Around the world in five
Canada
Canada considers study permit cap tweaks as job losses mount
Despite possible adjustments to come, experts are warning of deepening financial and educational fallout from Canada's study permit caps.
Global
University impact rankings expand but remain volatile
Designed to showcase how institutions are working towards addressing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, this year’s Times Higher Education Impact Rankings edition is the biggest yet.
Asia
"Asian tigers" ramp up internationalisation amid big four woes
Territories and countries like South Korea and Hong Kong, part of the so-called “Asian Tigers” alongside Singapore and Taiwan, now view international students and intra-East Asian mobility as critical to sustaining economic growth in the region.
United Kingdom
Over 50 UK universities have dropped in the latest QS World University Rankings, with funding concerns emerging as a key factor behind the decline.
The United States of America
Can the US afford to lose its 1.1 million international students?
International students contributed $43.8bn to the US economy last year and created 378,175 jobs nationwide.
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Aotearoa sharpens Sherpa’s ambitions on conservation in Nepal
The Everest region of Nepal is his home, and he has seen first-hand the impact of climbers and climate change on the world’s most famous mountain environment.
The former international student to New Zealand is a columnist in the Kathmandu Post, readily highlighting successes and calling out failures on a range of environmental issues impacting Nepal. He is part of a generation determined to find solutions.
Tsewang recently completed his Master’s in Environmental Management at Lincoln University, an international education experience made possible by the Mingma Norbu Sherpa Memorial Scholarship. Mingma was an early graduate of Sir Edmund Hillary’s Khumjung School, an alumnus of Lincoln University, and one of the leading voices on conservation in Nepal and Bhutan through his work with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) before his untimely death in 2006.
His legacy is a scholarship jointly funded by WWF, Lincoln University, and the Greater Himalayas Foundation which supports students from remote regions of Nepal committed to careers in conservation to study at Lincoln.
Tsewang says the links with New Zealand which date back to the work of Sir Edmund Hillary, and his belief in the importance of education for future generations, are a driver for many Nepalese students seeking to improve their opportunities in life.
“The connection is very strong,” he says. “Sir Ed Hillary is such an icon and I feel that the students who come to New Zealand to study are continuing to strengthen the relationship established by Sir Ed and Mingma”.
Fulfilling the dream of a New Zealand education
“The scholarship allows you to fulfil a vision of having a higher education in New Zealand, but more than that, it connects many people already working in the conservation sector in New Zealand, Nepal, and other parts of the world.”
Tsewang spent two years in New Zealand, arriving just before the border closed in 2020 and is grateful that his studies were largely unaffected by the pandemic. He says he has learned much about New Zealand’s approach to conservation and gained a better understanding of te ao Māori and the concept of kaitiakitanga (guardianship and protection).
“I am a Sherpa. We are renowned as mountaineers, but we are also an ethnic tribe with a strong connection and respect for nature and a strong desire for environmental stewardship.
“Seeing Māori taking ownership of preserving and retaining their culture was an important learning for me. These are taonga (treasures) which we should be taking from one generation to another.
“Through my education I want to promote empowerment of local people on conservation issues,” Tsewang says. “Studying in New Zealand made me realise that this is already happening in Nepal, but we just need to find ways to make it more effective.”
Tsewang’s Master’s research was into the effectiveness of the Garbage Deposit Scheme (GDS) initiated by the Sherpa people, in which Everest climbers pay a US$4000 deposit that’s returned only if they bring back at least 8kg of rubbish produced during their expeditions. “Working in conjunction with the aims, aspirations, and opportunities of local communities is incredibly empowering.”
Making a positive impact in Nepal
The students who have come to Aotearoa have made a positive impact in Nepal, Tsewang says. “It’s all about learning from best practice and sharing knowledge.
As one person it’s hard to make change, but by sharing information and knowledge we can make incremental change.”
“We are seeing that governments globally are starting to overhaul their environmental protection policies. New Zealand has played a key role in the context of Nepal because people before me came to study and returned home to build crucial environmental education and awareness.”
Tsewang loved his time in Aotearoa, both inside and outside the classroom, having spent most of his free time hiking iconic tracks. “There’s so much learning that happens out in the field where you hear first-hand of the experiences of those working in conservation.
“This was an essential part of my education experience. You have unplanned conversations which are inspiring and hugely valuable,” he says.
“The last two years have been monumental in so many ways. It’s not just the academic learning, but also the personal growth. I have gained so much confidence to voice my opinion and share my knowledge.
“I will stay in touch with many of the people I have met and hopefully we will have the opportunity to collaborate in the future. Learning never stops.
“The international education opportunities with New Zealand only serve to strengthen the long-standing bond with Nepal. There’s a real legacy involved for both countries.”
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From the Chief Executive: Positive steps for international education
Initially focused on Asia, the Prime Minister’s scholarships started in 2013. Since then, more than 2,400 Kiwis have benefited from the experience of living in an Asian or Latin American country, developing personal connections, cultural understanding and global citizenship skills as well as gaining new perspectives in their chosen field of study. These scholarships are a great example of the two-way nature of international education – it’s about the opportunity for us as New Zealanders to learn, as well as for us to contribute.
Over the years the scholarships have evolved and this is set to continue in the future, following two recent wānanga with Māori partners. The first wānanga explored what ‘global citizenship’ means from a Māori world view. The second wānanga discussed the Prime Minister’s Scholarship programme, how to grow Māori participation in it, and how to support rangatahi through creating programme connections with iwi and the Māori economy, so the programme provides greater value for Māori. Alongside participants from a range of iwi and sector interests, representatives from the newly formed Kāhui Kaupapa also attended – Māori alumni of the Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia and Latin America. This work is part of ENZ’s long-term programme to build partnerships with iwi, Māori and Māori providers of education services, to transform the understanding of international education and ensure the education system delivers with, and for, Māori in the international context.
We have also made good progress with plans for inbound travel for international education this month. Universities are currently using our new portal system to nominate international students for their 1,450 places as part of the fourth cohort of 5,000 students. Working with the Ministry of Education, we are now assessing applications for places received from schools, PTEs and English language schools and will let them know their individual place allocations next week, so that they can start sending in their nominations, along with Te Pūkenga. Immigration New Zealand is due to begin processing the first formal requests for travel under this border exception by mid-April, in time for a mid-year study start.
In related news, travel from visa waiver countries such as Japan and South Korea has been brought forward two months and will now reopen from 2 May 2022. Students from these countries will be able to come to New Zealand for short courses of up to three months, which is good news for the sector, including English language schools.
While the borders were closed, online education offerings assumed a greater role. This sets us up well to continue to provide a more varied and resilient international education offering in the future. Phase two of a pilot programme to promote New Zealand-branded online education to the world starts in June and interested education providers are invited to a webinar on 31 March 2022 to find out more. This phase of the pilot will continue our partnership with FutureLearn, a well-established online platform with a significant global audience.
COVID-19 has affected our daily lives in many ways, including making virtual meetings the norm. When we held our regular peak body and regional gatherings last week, it was noticeable that a greater degree of formality tends to prevail online, and it’s much harder to get lively discussions underway. We really value and need to hear from our industry partners, and so I would welcome any suggestions for how we can make sure that these meetings enable robust discussion and exchange of ideas.
This month we welcomed Ziena Jalil to her first meeting as an ENZ Board member. Ziena was once an international student and is now an award-winning business and public sector leader, with 20 years’ experience working in New Zealand and Asia. Ziena brings enormous expertise in education, international relations and marketing, which will greatly benefit ENZ and the wider international education sector as we work to rebuild post-COVID.
This month we also published our 2020/21 Annual Report, which had been delayed by a shortage of auditors, related to COVID-19. The report is available on our website here and highlights the impacts of COVID-19 on the sector and our joint efforts to maintain an ongoing commitment to international education during this challenging period.
Okea Ururoatia! – Keep striving forward!
Grant McPherson
- Statement of Performance Expectations 2025 2026
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- IEGF 2016 Selection Criteria
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