27 April 2016 at 9:00 am
Thinking regionally, acting globally, at ANZA
Over 170 agents from 43 countries got to know the hidden treasures of regional New Zealand at ICEF’s Australia New Zealand Agent Workshop (ANZA) 2016 held in Melbourne, Australia from 13-15 April.
Education New Zealand (ENZ) extended its presence this year by creating a New Zealand pavilion, featuring 11 regional international education organisations hosted by regional representatives. The Immigration New Zealand team, lead by Celia Coombes, joined the pavilion along with the ENZ team.
In addition to the pavilion, ENZ organised additional wrap-around events to both create a spirit of collaboration amongst the regional representatives, and maximise the networking with agents, New Zealand education providers and the team from ICEF.
ENZ’s Regional Project Managers, Jo Keane and Sarah Gauthier, believe the regional approach boosted the profile of New Zealand education as a whole, with Sarah commenting, “Each New Zealand region has its own distinctive characteristics and it’s important to raise awareness of these to agents so they can, in turn, promote them to international students.
“ANZA was a great forum to showcase the diversity of our study options and the regional learning, living and working opportunities, and share the New Zealand Story with our agent audience” said Greg Scott, Programme Manager for the Regional Partnership Programme.
This year’s innovative approach to ANZA was regarded as a great success by the regional representatives, with Learning Hawke’s Bay’s Business Development Manager, Stephanie Kennard, commenting, “The Pavilion made a huge impact and was a talking point amongst many of the agents. The stand, the ENZ presentation on the Wednesday afternoon and the networking event on Friday night were all brilliant!”
Susanna Leisten, an ANZA attendee from Thames High School, says, “I felt so proud to be a Kiwi and am very grateful and appreciative of all your efforts and really enjoyed the ENZ Friday evening networking event. I have made some very useful contacts and am positive that the event you hosted made a big difference.”
“We think that these types of collaborative platforms are essential – to strengthen the New Zealand education story with regional input and opportunities. We hope to do more of this in the future,” said Greg Scott.
ENZ is now considering ways to incorporate regional international education organisations into other events and activities, demonstrating so effectively the learning, living and working opportunities for international students across all of New Zealand.
