10 April 2019 at 9:00 am
Students, schools and agents connect in Viet Nam
Some 700 prospective students and parents joined more than 50 New Zealand education providers at ENZ’s event series in Viet Nam in March, including fairs, agent seminars, school visits and a workshop.
Held over a week in late March, ENZ’s Regional Manager East Asia, Ben Burrowes, said the events were a chance to showcase New Zealand’s Future Proof education during Viet Nam’s key recruitment season.
Held in in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, the fairs attracted nearly 700 students and parents – an almost eight percent increase on the 2018 fairs – to connect with more than 50 New Zealand education providers.
“As Viet Nam’s largest in-market promotional events, the fairs presented a wide range of New Zealand scholarships, including the inaugural New Zealand Schools Scholarships (NZSS) offered exclusively to Vietnamese students,” said Ben.
“To promote them, we organised for 31 New Zealand schools in the scheme to visit 20 local schools in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi before and after the fairs.
“The visits were a great opportunity for New Zealand schools not only to showcase their education offering to prospective students but to explore partnership opportunities with Vietnamese schools,” said Ben.
ENZ also hosted a School Strategy Workshop to provide New Zealand schools with insights into Vietnamese parent and student study decision-making processes, and different marketing and business development tactics for the market.
Karlene Davis (Left), Consul-General and ENZ CE Grant McPherson (Right) hit the ceremonial gong to open the ENZ Fair in Ho Chi Minh City.
The agent seminars in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi were also a success, with more than 75 local agents attending.
“Agent seminars play a key role in connecting New Zealand providers with capable education agents in the market. Getting to know the right agents is the very first step for New Zealand institutions to set their footprint in the market through agent network development,” said Ben.
Viet Nam is a key market for international education in New Zealand. The number of Vietnamese students increased by 7 per cent in 2018 (34 per cent for the high school sector), with over 2,500 Vietnamese now studying in New Zealand.
