Welcome
Kia Ora,
Welcome back to those of you who have just returned from your Easter break. Please take a few minutes to get caught up on what’s new in Export Education.
Interested in becoming a Trustee of the Education New Zealand Trust?
Each year the Education New Zealand Trust holds an election for appointing its Trustees (ENZ’s Board of Directors). All educational institutions that are paying the Export Education Levy are entitled to nominate persons to stand for election to become a Board member of the Education New Zealand Trust. Please note that nominations do not necessarily need to be persons currently engaged in the industry – they could be persons from outside the industry with skill sets that would be of benefit to the Education New Zealand Trust and the wider industry.
Nominations are now open. If you wish to nominate someone (or even nominate yourself!), please click HERE to find out more.
Conference 2009
2009 New Zealand International Education Conference
New times, New challenges: coming ready or not!
August 5th – 7th 2009
Duxton Hotel
170 Wakefield St
Wellington
A special Conference E-News will be coming shortly, with all the information regarding this year’s conference including a full programme, accommodation options, registration rates and much more. Some of the highlights for this year include:
- Release of the In Country Depth Research, China.
- Release of the Student Loan, Financial Aid and Scholarship Schemes Research.
- A full schools day for primary, intermediate and secondary.
- And an updated Working with the Web session with ENZ’s own web guru Vince Warnock.
If you have any questions please contact the Conference Convener
More information coming soon.
New Zealand Specialist Agent Training – Update
In early 2008 Education New Zealand developed a New Zealand Specialist Agent Training Programme as an opportunity for agents to undergo training, testing and all going well then being promoted as Specialist Agents.
A Specialist Agent group in Hong Kong has already been developed and their contact details are available HERE. Last week a training session was held in Beijing for 63 agents from Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong and Hebei provinces, and another session was held following the ANZA Workshop in Auckland for 48 agents from around the world, including some who are locally based.
The next events are being planned for Bangkok (early May), Berlin and São Paulo (late May), and Cologne and Seoul (mid June).
Earlier this month we changed the name of the Indian Agents Group to New Zealand Specialist Agents, their list is available HERE
We will continue to add updates to E-news as we make further developments in Specialist Agent Training.
Swine Flu – Time to Panic?
“Swine flu” is the most recent potential pandemic to hit our shores. With a small number of Auckland students recently returned from Mexico confirmed to have contracted this new strain of influenza, it may be time again to examine New Zealand’s plans for an outbreak.
The Ministry of Education created a Pandemic Planning Kit in response to earlier concerns (such as avian influenza). This information is worth reviewing in case “swine flu” becomes an issue in New Zealand institutions over the winter. You can access the information HERE.
If there are further developments which affect incoming international students or institution staff traveling to affected areas, we will keep you updated via E-news.
The Minstry of Heath is providing regular updates on the situation. Follow the Mexican Swine Influenza link from their home page HERE.
Immigration Advisers Licensing Deadline
Beginning on May 4, 2009 (next Monday) all Immigration Advisers operating in New Zealand must be licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority. Applications filed to Immigration New Zealand from unlicensed onshore advisers will not be accepted after that date.
At 31 March there were 127 licensed advisers and 60 others at various stages in the licensing process. To find out whether an adviser is licensed, you can go to the Immigration Advisers Authority website www.iaa.govt.nz and check their database.
Offshore Immigration Advisers have one additional year to become licensed. The deadline for offshore advisers is May 4, 2010.
As we have reported in earlier E-news articles, most student advisers at the international offices of institutions will not need to become licensed Immigration Advisers. You will still be allowed to assist students with their visas and with other decisions. If you are in doubt about whether you are affected by the Immigration Advisers Act, check the website above, or contact Immigration New Zealand at 0508 422 422.
UK Faces More Competition in Europe
(via Times Higher Education)
UK universities will lose international students to their European competitors if they do not wise up to increasing competition from their neighbours.
That is the message of a Universities UK report released recently, which warns institutions to act now to preserve their place in the European market.
The report, produced by the UK HE International Unit at UUK, examines funding regimes, immigration rules and the amount of teaching offered in English to consider the threat that continental European universities pose to UK higher education.
It singles out Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland as potential direct competitors.
Rick Trainor, president of Universities UK, supported the report’s findings and recommendations. “The UK sector is well aware of the emergence of new competitors for international students. While much of this attention has rightly been directed at Asia, increasingly Europe is seen as a potential competitor,” he said.
Read the full article HERE.
E-news is a newsletter for the Export Education industry, compiled by Education New Zealand. You can access previous E-news newsletters on our website at www.educationnz.org.nz .
With Regards.
Education New Zealand
www.educationnz.org.nz