26th February 2008

1. Online Promotions

2. Short Courses

3. PACE 2008

4. Just The Stats

5. You Don't Know How Lucky You Are..!?

6. In The News

7. News From Australia

1. Online Promotions Update

The Web is a medium that has the potential to give us some more ‘bangs per buck’ in generic promotion. Currently, there are a couple of major initiatives underway using the web…

A major social networking campaign to promote www.newzealandeducated.com is ready to rollout in March. The intention is to appeal to the 15-24 age demographic, drive traffic to the New Zealand Educated website, and engage them once they are there. (We will also be able to analyse where they are from, their site usage and click through).

A key aspect of this campaign will be to encourage international students already in New Zealand to network with their friends, who will in turn network…To do this, we will be asking you all to let your students know what is going on. In an upcoming e-news, we will link you in to this campaign.

We also have a specific web based promotion underway in China. This features an initial competition round to select blog authors to contribute to a “New Zealand experience” blog at http://nzembassy.blog.sohu.com

Students from three top Chinese universities have been invited to submit an essay entitled “New Zealand in My Eyes” or “New Zealand - New Thinking”. Four students from each university will be selected to author the blogs. From there, six students will be invited to New Zealand for ten days. Each will continue to write for the blogs while in New Zealand visiting institutions and experiencing the lifestyle and recreational activities. Our NZTE colleagues in China will monitor the blogs, which are of course being led by the selected students.

The ‘call to action’ for all generic campaigns is the www.newzealandeducated.com website. Current website traffic is reported below in this e-news but in a nutshell – if you aren’t listed on the site then you are missing a major opportunity to benefit from site visitors.

• To find out about profiling on the website contact the ENZ Website Manager, Vince Warnock

• For the latest website statistics, go to item 4

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2. Short Courses for International Education Administrators

These four assessed short courses meet the requirements for the National Certificate in Business Administration, Level 4 (60 credits). The purpose of this qualification is to meet individual skill needs that reflect the diverse roles and positions required to meet business administration and information technology needs of the business community at an advanced level. Minimum credits specified for interpersonal communications and writing recognise the need for competencies that underpin all business administration roles.

There are four assessed short courses: (note: you do not need to enrol in all 4 courses).

• The first course, pastoral care in international education, is completed.
• Services for international education (accepting enrolments now for February 2008)
• Meeting change and challenges in international education
• Marketing international education

Each course involves:

• 2 days 8.30-5.30 of face-to-face teaching in Auckland or Wellington
• 12 weeks of self-directed study, made up of readings, reflection, learning activities, assessments and discussions
• Self-directed study materials posted to students at the start of each course.
• Each week will involve up to 11 hours of study, however as students are fully engaged in working in the sector, there will be a good deal of overlap between the focus of study and their day-to-day work
• The first two-day block course (Auckland or Wellington) will be scheduled over the first weeks of the course. If students are out of the country during block teaching there will be an equivalent CD-Rom available as an alternative, with support available if needed.

Where there are places available, applications will be accepted up until the class begins. However, as places are often limited, we recommend that you apply early.

• For full course details please click HERE
• For additional course details click HERE
• For an application form, click HERE

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3. PACE 2008

Taiwan Agent & Student Workshops, 19 – 22 April

A series of agent seminars and mini-fairs focussed only on New Zealand will take place in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung (Taiwan’s three main cities) from 19 – 22 April 2008. These workshops seek to provide opportunities for interaction with both agents and students. The agent and student workshops offer excellent opportunities to New Zealand education providers across all sub-sectors to develop and enhance relationships with agents and interface directly with students through a well-organised programme. Registrations will close on Monday 10th March. For more information on this series of events, please click HERE, see the 2007 report HERE or contact Genevieve

New Zealand Education Fairs, Thailand, 14 – 17 June 2008

The New Zealand Education Fair series in Thailand and Vietnam are a flagship NZ marketing event. The programme of fairs and networking functions provides 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 years’ fair series recorded over 3,400 visitors. The dates are Chiang Mai – 14 June, Bangkok – 15 June, Phuket - 17 June, with the main function and briefing session being held in Bangkok prior to the fairs on Thursday 12th June.
Registrations are open now, for more information, click HERE, HERE Or contact Rahael

New Zealand Education Fairs, Vietnam, 20 – 23 June 2008

Following on from the series in Thailand, the Vietnam series includes both fairs and agent seminars in each of the main cities. Last year the two fairs welcomed 1,400 Vietnamese visitors interested in New Zealand education.
Hanoi Agent Seminar - 20 June
Hanoi Fair - 21 June
Ho Chi Minh City Fair– 22 June
Ho Chi Minh City Agent Seminar 23 June
Registrations are now open, for more information, click
HERE, HERE Or contact Rahael

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4. Just the Stats: Website statistics

The refreshed New Zealand Educated website www.newzealandeducated.com went live on October 4 2007. Since then, the site has had 10 million hits - 83,000 per day; and more than half a million page visits - nearly 5,000 per day. There are some unusually active markets - for example in January 2008 traffic from Taiwanese students increased by 1000% on usual numbers.

The average time spent per visit is about five minutes. This is high by website standards, and suggests students are getting online, finding both information and institutions of interest and getting onto their website.

The top five countries for October to January were India, USA, Brazil, Thailand and China, all current depth markets. All 9 depth marketing countries are within the top 20.

The top five site wide search phrases are scholarships, Masters, schools, universities and biotechnology.

For more in depth information about statistics, or to find out how to get the most out of your profile, please contact Vince Warnock


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5. Tourism: don’t know how lucky you are..!?

Last weeks Dominion Post ran an article reporting the New Zealand Hotel Association assertions about the lack of ‘serious funding’ from the Government for the tourism industry. In our view, they don’t know how lucky they are.

And we’ve said so – Rob Stevens noted that ‘the rate of return on the tourism investment is 100 to one – but on the international education investment it’s well over 1,000 to one.”

He went on to say “The generic support we have had as an industry is appreciated, and has had a positive impact. We would contend that there is no more effective generic spend to be had than that which supports international education as an earner for New Zealand – a small investment by government results in a big leg up”.

Advocacy is a core part of ENZ’s work – and this means trying to prise more support from Government for industry led activity, not just Government’s own initiatives. With the support of the Ministry, we had success last year, scoring funding for (among other things) the Web campaigns noted above. But with lower Levy funding, and pressure on institutional budgets, we stand by our contention that Government support is both essential, and money very well spent.

• To read the full article from the Dominion Post go to http://www.stuff.co.nz/4404971a13.html
• To read Education New Zealand’s follow up release click HERE

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6. In the News: Interest exemption for New Zealand Exchange Students

The Government has announced that New Zealand exchange students will be granted an exemption of interest on their student loan whilst undertaking study overseas as part of a formal exchange programme.

The policy change will be included in a bill scheduled for introduction in 2008 and the exemption will be backdated to apply from 1 April 2007.

To read the Minister of Revenue’s release go to http://beehive.govt.nz/release/interest-free+loans+students+nz+exchange+programmes

This is excellent news for students applying for the New Zealand Undergraduate Study Abroad Award in 2008. The next round of nominations for the award closes on 1 May 2008.

Students need to prepare an application and send it to the Student Exchange Coordinator of the New Zealand institution they attend. The Student Exchange Coordinator must then forward nominations to Education New Zealand.

For more information about the award and other New Zealand International Scholarships and Study Abroad Awards, go to www.newzealandeducated.com or contact Camilla Swan, Education New Zealand’s Scholarship Manager.

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7. News from Australia: Major vocational provider closes

Australia's Global College has been shut down by the New South Wales Government after failing to renew its registration with the Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board.

Up to 1000 foreign students may lose money and be sent home if space at other institutions can not be found. Whilst the college will be legally obliged to refund fees, it may not be in a financial state to do so leaving the Federal Government to foot the bill. Students will need to be found a place in another institution but the Australian Council for Private Education and Training, said it could not guarantee he would be able to find places for all the students.

The deregistration comes just a week after academic research released suggests that foreign students are exploited in Australia.

Wonder how many headlines this will make in China?!

Read more at http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hundreds-cast-out-as-college-closes/2008/02/15/1202760599522.html

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