Message from the CEO
Another budget day has come and gone in New Zealand - and although export education didn’t make the headlines, we did make the bottom line. I am pleased to confirm that the government has chosen to continue to support the industry to the tune of $3.4 million for promotions and marketing in the year ahead.
Export education is increasingly being recognised as a key contributor to New Zealand’s export mix, alongside tourism and agriculture. It is a recognition we have sought for many years, and it is satisfying to see the industry get the support it needs to grow and succeed. However, as the below table demonstrates, there is a severe disparity for the treatment of education relative to tourism:
|
Per Annum economic impact of industry (NZD): |
New Zealand Government per annum contribution to generic promotion: |
Ratio of Government contribution to economic value attained: |
Tourism |
$8.2 billion in forex per annum |
$94 million |
1:87 |
Education |
$2.5 billion in forex per annum |
$3.4 million |
1: 735 |
In other words, the Government invests $1 in tourism promotion for every $87 dollars generated by the tourism industry. This compares most unfavorably with education, where the Government invests $1 in education promotion for every $735 generated by the education export industry. Given that the two industries share similar economic dynamics (major market failure issues, free riders and the need for cost sharing), this stark comparison can lead to three conclusions:
- the education export sector has done incredibly well in building such a large and successful export service industry, when compared to tourism;
-
education represents a far better value for money return on generic promotion investment for the Government than tourism; and
-
lastly, the Government’s investment in promotion of education is seriously lagging, when compared with tourism. Education brings in 25% of the foreign exchange returns of tourism, yet receives only 3.6% of the Crown funding that tourism receives. If education was funded on a pro-rata par with tourism, government investment for education generic promotion would be within the vicinity of $23.5 million per annum.
Nevertheless, we are delighted with the additional $2 million and the key to proving that this is public money well spent. As you may already know, Education New Zealand has set an industry target of 10% growth in revenue for the financial year 2010/11. Of course, in the end it is the institutions who drive this growth, and we look forward to working with you to deliver the support you require to keep our industry strong.
Education New Zealand Trustee Election Reminder
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 close on Friday 11 June 2010. If you wish to nominate someone (or even nominate yourself!), please click HERE to find out more.
UK Naric Tertiary Admissions Workshops 4th - 5th August
As part of the Export Education Industry Development Programme, Education New Zealand are bringing trainers from UK Naric, parallel to this year's International Education Conference.
The workshop will be held in Christchurch over two days - 4th - 5th August 2010.
On the 4th August 2010 there will be a one-day workshop covering two sessions; one being Degrees of Deception - Fraudulent Documentation; and the other being Evaluating International Qualifications.
On the 5th August the second workshop day will cover Education in the Middle East and Education in English Speaking Africa.
To find out more about these workshops please click HERE. Places are filling up quickly, so register now to ensure you will be able to attend.
If you would like to find out more about UK Naric there will be a session at our 2010 New Zealand International Education Conference, which will be held in Christchurch 5th - 6th August. UK Naric will also have an exhibitor booth at the conference.
PACE 2010 Update
New Zealand Education Fairs, Malaysia, 1 – 8 August
Register now for second round of New Zealand Education Fairs in Malaysia which will be held in Kota Kinabalu, Penang and Petaling Jaya.
Marketing in Malaysia is particularly relevant for the tertiary sector. Universities, ITPs, Foundation Providers and Private Training Establishments are encouraged to participate.
Approximately 1,200 visitors attended the New Zealand Education Fairs held in March 2010, an increase from 2009, participants commented on how serious the enquiries were. The number of Malaysian students coming to study in New Zealand is steadily increasing with March 2010 Immigration New Zealand statistics trending upwards.
Participants of the New Zealand Education Fairs in March 2010 commented that:
"the venue worked well, the event was well advertised and detailed enquires were received", "there was a very good turn out".
For more information on these events or to register, please visit HERE or contact Laurette.
New Zealand Education Fairs, Sri Lanka 18 September
The fourth New Zealand Education Fair has been scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka, Colombo on Saturday 18th September. The fair will be held in the Hilton Colombo located in the heart of the business centre, linked by walkway to Colombo’s World Trade Center.
Student numbers from Sri Lanka have been gradually increasing with this year’s data showing over 50% more first time students’ visas, being approved by INZ.
Sri Lanka is a tertiary market with good opportunities and with a key group of core New Zealand Specialist Agents
For more information and to register please visit HERE or contact Laurette
CCIEE Fairs, China, 16 – 30 October
The CCIEE China Fairs are commercial fairs approved by the Chinese Government, the fairs offer New Zealand an opportunity to showcase and promote our country, education system and institutions alongside our competitors. The fair cities are set as Beijing, Xi’an Shanghai, and Chengdu. A New Zealand only Agent Seminar is being planned for Xi’an in conjunction with the CCIEE Fair there.
The Chinese registration deadline is Friday 25th June so early planning from New Zealand is vital for this event, and will enable us to make decisions around the level of promotion in each of the cities.
For further information including registering for the events, please click HERE or for the post event reports and other information please click HERE - you will need to be logged in to the site to view this page or please contact Rahael.
New Zealand Education Fair, Seoul, Korea, 30 & 31 October
The New Zealand Education Fair in Korea is a flagship New Zealand event. The event provides an opportunity for marketers to raise their profile, recruit students, maintain relationships and meet with active agents in the market.
In 2009 1,681 visitors pre-registered their attendance through the official fair website, and a similar number visited the fair over the two days. Korea is still our second biggest market for international students, click HERE for the latest statistics showing the trends in numbers of students studying in New Zealand from Korea.
The 2009 New Zealand Education Fair in Seoul was a huge success and we look forward to building on that outcome in 2010, click HERE to view the special E-news report on last year’s event.
For further information including registering for the events, please click HERE or for the post event report and market information please click HERE - you will need to be logged in to the site to view this page contact or please contact Rahael.
Tips and Trends from our Web Wonk
It has been a busy time in tech circles over the last few weeks. From the Privacy change fiasco over at Facebook (and subsequent reverting back of some of the new privacy features) to the rollout of real-time discussion (with the use of Google Moderator) on YouTube. Then there's the iPad growing from strength to strength and the New Facebook Q&A feature. Things are certainly changing fast.
One of the things we could not let slip by without mentioning was Video giant YouTube celebrating their fifth birthday, so to celebrate, they have taken some time to…well....boast.
So five years in here are some of the latest mind-blowing stats from YouTube:
• 2 Billion views a day
• 3rd most visited website (Alexa)
• Localized in 23 countries across 24 different languages
• 15 the average number of minutes people spend on the site each day
• 24 Hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute
• 45 Million home page impressions every day in the US alone
• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• 100 Years of video scanned by copyright management technology, Content ID, every day
• 1700 Years it would take you to watch the hundreds of millions of videos on YouTube
Remember, you can keep up with all of the latest web trends and stats from our resident 'Web Wonk' Vince Warnock over at the community forum
By Vince Warnock, Webmaster for Education New Zealand.
Australia Student Numbers Plummet
International student enrolments could drop by as much as 20 per cent next year, costing the economy up to $2 billion, as a consequence of the Rudd government's "abrupt" tightening of immigration requirements and rising competition from North America and Britain for the lucrative student trade.
Australia's largest international student recruiter, IDP chief executive Tony Pollock, warned that changes to visa rules and priority skills were being made without giving the industry time to adjust. As a result, student demand had plummeted and the sector's market standing was at risk.
Mr Pollock said international placements into Australia across IDP's network were down 37 per cent in April compared with a year ago, with current Indian demand almost wiped out. He said the Australian High Commissioner in India had told his staff there that the number of student visa applications it had on hand had crashed to just 200, compared with 8600 a year ago.
The Australian was unable to verify these numbers with the commission. According to the Department of Immigration, its latest application figures for the nine months to the end of March 31 show that applications from Indian nationals are down 47 per cent at 23,601.
Mr Pollock said further negative fallout was expected as more students were stranded by private college collapses caused by the downturn, and frustration grew among the thousands of students already enrolled in courses that have been culled from the Skilled Occupations List that provides a pathway for permanent residency. "My concern is that the numbers for the next 12 months are going to be severely impacted," he said.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans has tightened visa requirements and refocused on a narrower range of skills to clamp down on rorts and student exploitation.
These included "visa factories" or dodgy courses in areas like hairdressing, cookery and community welfare that were focused solely on permanent residency.
International education is Australia's third-largest export earner behind coal and iron ore at about $17 billion a year. International student fees have become a key revenue source for universities following declines in government funding, accounting for more than 15 per cent of revenue.
"The government's desire to clean up the industry is entirely admirable, but they have made the changes so abrupt that there is little time for the kind of structural adjustment that is necessary in any big change of this nature, both for the students and the institutions," Mr Pollock said.
A spokesman for the Department of Immigration said the changes to a more "demand-driven" immigration program had been signalled as far back as early 2008.
"The recently announced changes to skilled migration remove incentives for students to seek permanent residence through low-quality education courses, a practice that damaged the integrity of both the migration program and the education industry," the spokesman said.
A spokeswoman for Education Minister Julia Gillard said the sector was well placed to weather the changes.
"The introduction of the new Skilled Occupations List will require a refocusing for some education and training providers, but we believe the market is well placed to continue as a world leader in international education services," she said.
International students are set to protest against changes to the skills list at a demonstration in Sydney on June 3. So far this year, 15 private colleges have already closed, affecting 3713 students, of which only 57 per cent have been placed at other providers or given refunds.
The latest government figures show international student commencements rose by just 0.3 per cent in the nine months to March, compared with average growth rate over the past eight years of 8.6 per cent. While commencements at universities were up 11.8 per cent, they were down in the vocational and English language sectors that are key feeders for universities.
Via The Australian
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