Welcome
Kia ora,
By the time the next edition of E-News is circulated, we expect to be able to look at the Ministry of Education's full year statistics for the 2009 Export Education Levy. This will tell the complete story of how our industry fared during that recessionary year.
In the mean time, enjoy our updates on a number of ENZ activities, and international education news from around the world.
Twenty20 Cricket Tournament Wraps Up in India
Education New Zealand has used young Indians’ enthusiasm for cricket to bridge the cultural divide and reach out to school students in New Delhi.
The inaugural Study in New Zealand Twenty20 Cricket Tournament has just wrapped up in New Delhi after a very successful run. Five local schools participated, with the winning team from Delhi Public School, Mathura Road receiving their trophy from Kiwi cricket legend John Wright. Wright is well known in India as a former coach of the Indian cricket team.
In addition to the trophy presentation, the members of the winning team all received new cricket gear. All participants in the tournament received certificates of participation.
The prize giving doubled as a press conference, and the event was covered by several newspapers including The Hindu and Mail Today. There was also online coverage on Zeenews.com and Mobile ESPN, widening the event’s promotional reach beyond the usual education-based channels.
The aim of the tournament was to capture the attention of Indian high school students nearing graduation, and encourage them to include New Zealand on their choice list when considering the next steps in their education. Presentations on studying in New Zealand will take place at each of the high schools involved in the tournament.
The winning team from DPS Mathura Road
Immigration Advisers Act – Offshore Advisers Must be Licensed
As flagged in previous editions of e-news (18 August, 25 November and 18 December 2008) when the Immigration Advisers Act was introduced, Education New Zealand worked with the Department of Labour and the new Immigration Advisers Authority to develop a set of guidelines to the Act for education exporters. The guidelines help to clarify what staff at institutions can and can’t do under the new Act, and in most cases there will be no change in your interactions with international students.
The 2008 guideline is available HERE.
However, from 4 May 2010, the provisions relating to offshore immigration advice will be enforced by the Authority. The Authority has written to advise that this is happening and the types of examples of immigration advice (as opposed to immigration information). In both the 2008 Guideline and the more recent letter from IAA, it should be noted that a key element of “advice” is where information is tailored for individual circumstances. Under the Act, this is the threshold for “immigration advice” which is covered by the Act as opposed to “immigration information” which is allowable under the Act.
The latest update from the Immigration Advisers Authority is available HERE.Offshore report – China
My name is Li Zhi, and I represent Education New Zealand in China, working out of the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing.
We have just completed CIEET fairs in Beijing and Chongqing in March 2010. The unique brand and NZ Inc. presence of New Zealand Educated has attracted a lot of visitors.
There were 16 providers from New Zealand who participated in the fairs, and the feedback from the providers is very positive towards the China market.
According to China Ministry of Education, the number of students going overseas for study in 2009 has increased by 27.5% to 229 300. In the calendar year of 2009, the number of students from China to study in NZ has increased by 26% to a very healthy number around 5,000.
We do not expect the number of students from China to increase dramatically over the next few years, but would rather prefer to see a stable and healthy growth.
JJL, one of the biggest agents in China and most active in NZ, will be opening a branch office in Wuhan, showing that market interest from Wuhan is on the rise this year. With the increase in the number of students going to study overseas and more active agents opening up branch offices, it would be good for providers to explore new regions. More opportunities exist in secondary cities or even third level cities.
One interesting point to make is that according to the Immigration New Zealand Beijing Office statistics, the agent involvement in applications has dropped from over 60% to 40% in 2009, this indicates that more students are doing their applications by themselves or going through the bridging courses to study in NZ to further their education.
New Zealand is considered a very safe, beautiful and cost-effective study destination compared to other English speaking countries. Although the agent involvement in applications has decreased, we still look at them as a very effective channel for sourcing students. We have 12 active agents and 2 media from China currently visiting New Zealand to better understand the environment and education system. This is part of the Inbound Agent visits that Education New Zealand has coordinated with the assistance of Air New Zealand.
There are currently about 60 New Zealand Specialist Agents based in China. Their details are available HERE.
Also running currently is a large “Study in New Zealand” billboard at Chongqing International Airport which will be seen by about 8 million travellers.
Soon the hype around the Shanghai Expo will get underway. It will be great to have industry up in China again for that activity. The Expo is an unparalleled opportunity for exposure, with over 70 million visitors expected.
PACE 2010 Update
New Zealand Education Fairs, Vietnam, 4 - 7 June
This year the New Zealand Education Fairs in Vietnam will precede Thailand, to ensure we avoid the Vietnamese school holidays later in June.
In June 2009 over 1,400 Vietnamese visitors attended the two fairs in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The schedule this year is as follows:
Hanoi Agent Seminar, Briefing and Welcome Function – 4 June
New Zealand Education Fair, Hanoi – 5 June (* NOTE : now sold out*)
New Zealand Education Fair, Ho Chi Minh City – 6 June
Ho Chi Minh City Agent Seminar and Networking Function - 7 June
The Evening Functions on Friday 4 June and Monday 7 June will both include a presentation ceremony for Vietnamese agents receiving their New Zealand Specialist Agent certificates.
Please note that final registrations close Friday 23 April.
To register for the fairs or for further information, click HERE. Other online information includes the 2009 Final Report and the Market Profile for Vietnam, available HERE or contact Rahael.
New Zealand Education Fairs, Thailand, 10 – 15 June
The largest set of events on the PACE calendar in terms of industry participation, these Fairs and the Networking Function provide plenty of opportunities for marketers to raise their profile, recruit students, and develop relationships with active agents and relevant education officials in this important market. Last year’s events recorded over 3,000 visitors keen to check out options for studying in New Zealand. The dates for 2010 are:
Welcome Function & Briefing (Bangkok) – 10 June
New Zealand Education Fair, Chiang Mai – 12 June (* NOTE: now sold out*)
New Zealand Education Fair, Bangkok – 13 June
Please note that final registrations close Friday 23 April.
To register and for further information click HERE. Other online information includes the 2009 Final Report and the Market Profile or contact Rahael.
Melbourne Pays the Price for Bad Press in India
After a grim year in terms of the reputation of Victoria as a safe place to live for foreigners, and Indian students in particular, Australian Education International (AEI) figures reveal foreign students are turning away from the state's universities.
Total commencements by overseas students were down 12% while Indian student numbers plummeted by a startling 40%, from 6,303 to 3,761. Enrolments by Malaysian students starting their university courses in the state also fell - by 32% compared with a national drop of 13% - while those from Korea fell by 13% against a national decline of 3%.
At the same time, enrolments by Indian students staying on in Victoria for multi-year courses increased by 4% to more than 26,500 while the biggest drop in their numbers occurred in the vocational colleges. This was almost certainly a result of much tighter restrictions on students gaining permanent residency.
Overall, Australia’s universities continue to attract more foreign fee-paying students.
Figures published last week by the AEI show that more than 160,600 international students were undertaking higher education courses in February, a 13% increase on the 142,000 enrolled at the same time last year.
The total number of foreigners enrolled in universities, schools and vocational and English language colleges also rose, by 6%, to almost 390,000 in the 12 months to February.
More worrying for the institutions that have come to rely heavily on fees from foreigners is the fact that in the same period, the number of students beginning a course this year fell by nearly 3% to 98,000.
Yet universities managed to boost their commencements by 10%, bringing the total number of overseas newcomers on campus to 31,000.
China and India were the largest markets for both enrolments and commencements in all sectors. China accounted for 27% of total enrolments and 29% of commencements while India accounted for 17% and 9.4% respectively.
(via University World News)
Working Holiday Visas a Hot Ticket in Korea
Here’s more proof of New Zealand’s popularity among young Koreans. Immigration New Zealand has reported that the 1,800 places in the Korea Working Holiday Scheme were all filled within one day of becoming available.
Visitors on Working Holiday Visas are allowed to enroll in multiple short courses totaling up to three months’ duration. So institutions providing short courses (including English Language and other subjects) are likely to be seeing some of these young visitors soon.
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