Welcome
Kia ora,
It was great to have the opportunity to catch up with so many industry members at Conference. It was a huge success, and planning is already underway for next year in Auckland!
2010 New Zealand International Education Conference - It's a Wrap
The 19th Annual New Zealand International Education Conference was a great few days down in Christchurch, with keynote addresses from Education New Zealand CEO Rob Stevens, Minister for Tertiary Education Hon Steven Joyce and Google’s Chief Technology Advocate Michael T. Jones.
We also had updates from NZQA, the Ministry of Education, Immigration New Zealand and a wide range of speakers from all areas of the export education industry. There were so many great sessions that many delegates mentioned they had trouble deciding which ones to attend.
In order to share as much of the great information from our speakers as possible, we are currently uploading presentations given at Conference to our Research and Resources website. Keep an eye out over the next few weeks.
If you attended Conference and would like to share your opinions on the experience, please take a few moments to fill out our online survey HERE. One lucky participant will win a free registration for next year's conference!
We will use the results to help make our next Conference even better.
English Language Schools – Nominations for ENZ Board of Trustees
Recently Education New Zealand undertook its annual electoral process for appointing its Trustees. As a result of this process, the following Board members have been appointed as Trustees of the Education New Zealand Trust for a three-year period commencing 1 July 2010:
- Prue Kelly, Principal, Wellington High School;
- Professor Rob Rabel, Pro Vice Chancellor (International), Victoria University of Wellington; and
- Professor Chris Tremewan, Pro Vice Chancellor (International), University of Auckland.
At the first meeting of the new Board on 22 July 2010, the Board reviewed the balance of skills around the Board table, and an independent report that they recently commissioned on certain aspects of ENZ's governance. As a result of that discussion the Board agreed to call for nominations from all Levy payers in the English language sector for suggestions from language schools. From these suggestions the current Board would appoint one member and that appointment would be for three years.
The Board members meet up to five times per year for a half-day meeting. Board members are unpaid but have their return travelling expenses for meetings reimbursed.
Let us know if you want to nominate yourself or anyone else, or if you have any queries, please contact the Board Secretary, Glennys Gwynne at glennys.gwynne@educationnz.org.nz
Please have your nominations to Glennys by close of business on 31 August 2010.
Thanks to our Sponsors
Education New Zealand would like to thank our sponsors and exhibitors, without whom the conference would not be possible. Their contributions allow us to keep our registration prices reasonable, and offer you a high quality event. This year we welcomed a new platinum sponsor – ANZ Bank.
Other sponsors for the 2010 New Zealand International Education Conference are listed on our website.
Congratulations Award Winners
Each year at our annual Conference, Education New Zealand recognises the exceptional work done over the year by many of our member institutions. This year the International Education Excellence Awards were presented by Minister for Tertiary Education Hon Steven Joyce.
This year’s winners are:
Excellence in Marketing: Kaikorai Valley College
Among their marketing strategies, Kaikorai Valley has developed sister school relationships with schools in three Japanese cities, as well as schools in Hong Kong, China, Korea, and Germany. Students from these schools participate in short term visits to New Zealand, and also become a source of full time international students.
In the important Chinese market, they wanted to have a presence onshore to help recruit students. The cost of this can be substantial, so Kaikorai Valley went into a partnership with the University of Otago to share the costs of a consultant. This helped to increase the number of Chinese students at the college from 3 FTEs in 2008 to 12 in 2010. This is their maximum desired number, which they plan to maintain with the consultant’s assistance.
Excellence in Student Support (tie): Kamo High School
Kamo’s international support staff have been welcoming international students to their school for over a decade, and have realised that it’s just as important to send them home on a positive note.
In the final week of their stay, students at Kamo High School go through a “reorientation” programme. They are encouraged to reflect on their experiences in New Zealand, to acknowledge the sadness they are feeling about the end of their stay, and to start thinking about the friends, family and familiar experiences that await them back home.
The underlying message to departing students is “Don’t be sad you are leaving, be happy that you came.” The school stays in touch with former international students via an e-newsletter, and staff members often meet up with alumni when visiting their home cities.
Excellence in Student Support (tie): Hillcrest High School
Sharing the award for student support is Hillcrest High School. The school’s international programme has been so successful that they no longer work through agents, since word of mouth provides them with more enrolments than they can accept!
They support not only their international students, but also the parents of those students and their homestay families. Parents and homestay parents receive newsletters from the school, letting them know what the students have been up to. And a special supper for homestay parents and caregivers allows them to discuss common issues and touch base.
International students at Hillcrest participate in an array of activities including orientation, teacher lunches, international concerts, and an overnight international camp to name a few. An International Committee comprised of international and domestic students have established an annual “International Games” at Hamilton’s Mid Winter Festival.
Innovation in International Programme: Unitec New Zealand
Unitec has been recognised for their relationship with the Beijing Dance Academy and Beijing Film Academy. They set up student exchanges and co-productions with Beijing Film Academy, and signed a MoU with the Beijing Dance Academy, China’s elite performing arts school. Through their relationship with Unitec, the Dance Academy hope to develop China’s knowledge of Western contemporary dance. They are particularly interested in Unitec’s video dance programme, which is a collaboration between the contemporary dance and screen arts disciplines.
You can read our press release about the winners on our website.
ENZ Agent Relationship Manager
We are pleased to welcome Shirley Huang to the new position of Agent Relationship Manager at Education New Zealand.
Shirley has worked in the international division of University of Waikato for the past eight years, recruiting international students mainly from North Asia and some South East Asian countries. She has extensive experience in dealing with agents and organising Familiarisation visits for delegates visiting the University.
Shirley will be starting her role at ENZ on 23rd August. She will be coordinating the Air New Zealand Agent Familiarisation visits and the New Zealand Specialist Agent training programme.
NZ Specialist Agents from Thailand
We hope many of you had the opportunity to meet the 17 New Zealand Specialist Agents from Thailand who attended the ENZ Conference.
The agents have just finished touring around NZ and enjoyed their Familiarisation visit. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the institutions and regional groups who hosted these agents in their cities. The agents (who travelled in two smaller groups) visited Christchurch, Timaru, Invercargill, Queenstown, Dunedin, Wellington, Napier and Auckland. They returned to Thailand on 12 August.
Latest Research Reports Online Now!
We now have the following research available online:
- Economic Update on the China, Korea, Japan Export Education Markets by BERL Economics.
The purpose of this project is to improve understanding of the economies of China, Japan, and Korea, and to make recommendations on strategy to maintain and/or grow these markets
- Saudi Scholarship Students: an Evaluation of Process and Outcomes by Vince Catherwood and Associates. This research study looks at the issues and problems that were emerging in an important and growing market for New Zealand’s export education sector, and recommends ways of improving the situation.
- Vocational Training Opportunities in China by BERL Economics. This report provides New Zealand ITPs with information to guide their strategic entry into VET in China. It builds on work completed in 2008 by BERL for Education New Zealand.
PACE 2010 Update
New Zealand Education Fair, Sri Lanka, 18 September
Registrations are open for the fourth annual New Zealand Education Fair in Sri Lanka. The fair will be held at the Hilton Colombo on Saturday 18th September. The official fair website is www.nzeducated.com/slfair Student numbers from Sri Lanka have been gradually increasing with this year’s data showing over 50% more first time student visas being approved by INZ. Sri Lanka is a tertiary market with good opportunities and with a key group New Zealand Specialist Agents. For more information or to register, please visit HERE or contact Laurette.
New Zealand Education Fair, Seoul, Korea, 30 & 31 October
Please note that this event is full, so registrations have now closed. Those who have missed out but would like to be placed on the waitlist can contact Rahael directly.
PACE Survey
Thanks to all those who returned the PACE Survey during Conference. It was great to receive feedback from around 90 industry members. We held a random draw from all entries with a prize of $500 off an upcoming PACE event registration fee for the winner’s institution. On Friday afternoon the prize was drawn and the winner was Kim Harase of ACG, Kim has gladly accepted the $500 discount to ACG’s next PACE event.
150 copies of the draft PACE 2011 calendar were distributed during the PACE session at Conference but a number of people missed out, a downloadable version is available online HERE. The draft is open for consultation until Friday 17th September, soon after that date the final PACE 2011 Wall Planner will be available to order via an online link, to be announced via E-News.
New Zealand Educated Firefox Personas
Those who use Firefox as their web browser will probably be aware that it’s now easy to customise your browser window with images/branding.
Two ‘New Zealand Educated’ branded Firefox Personas are now available for the brand values ‘Lively’ and ‘Connected’. They are free to download HERE.
New Zealand Embassy Seoul, South Korea - Relocated
Please note that the New Zealand Embassy, Seoul has been recently relocated on new premises immediately behind the Canadian Embassy in Jeong-dong. More information is available online 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