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Agency changes tack from ‘study in’ to ‘study with’ New Zealand

                      

Change of focus aimed at promoting offshore learning while Covid keeps borders closed

The government agency Education New Zealand has dumped its “Study in New Zealand” brand for a “study with” model, as part of its push to refocus overseas tertiary education to more offshore provision.

ENZ chief executive Grant McPherson said the new approach would encourage “students to begin studying toward a New Zealand education from just about anywhere in the world”.

McPherson said the move was part of the government’s recovery plan for international education. International student numbers at New Zealand universities are down to as low as half of what they have been in previous years. 

Local study

A Study with New Zealand website was launched on 1 July to offer students links to courses in their home countries, with options to “progress” to New Zealand’s universities. There are 30 countries in the “local study” option. 

It runs in parallel with a FutureLearn programme linking students to online and local education and guiding them towards in-demand skills. ENZ ran an online programme in June aimed at developing satellite education programmes and bringing education agents on board with the new approach. 

An ENZ report released in June showed that online enrolments were up by 238 per cent in 2020. 

Staff working in international education have suffered reduced hours, changes of jobs and redeployment, as well as losing work altogether, the report said. 

Only small numbers of students have been allowed to enter the country, with permission given for 1,000 to return in January. The University of Otago recently warned that a new intake this year was “unlikely”.

ENZ has also commissioned the New Zealand branch of the Isana International Education Association to develop resources for the international education industry, including around “student support, student experience, critical incident management, intercultural competence and professional leadership”.