Category: Education

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced on 29 July 2024 that the government will eliminate a value-added tax (VAT) exemption for private school fees and boarding services. The UK VAT is a goods and services sales tax that applies to most consumer purchases in the country, with the standard rate set at 20%.

While private school services had previously been exempt from the VAT, Chancellor Reeves has confirmed that the tax will now be applied to private K-12 school fees as of 1 January 2025 – at which point “all education services and vocational training supplied by a private school, or a connected person, for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%”. The same tax provision will now apply to all boarding services as well. Further, all school fees paid on or after 29 July 2024 for school terms beginning 1 January 2025 or after will now be subject to the tax.

The change had been tipped in the Labour Party manifesto leading up the July 2024 general election in the UK, and the sector has been pushing back on the idea for months, especially as it became clear last month that the new UK government would introduce the VAT changes months earlier than first expected.

Speaking late in July, Independent Schools Council (ISC) Chief Executive Julie Robinson said, “Any parent or school following the debate over VAT is likely to have been planning for September 2025…Families will have made choices about education months before an election was called; they cannot adequately plan for their children’s futures based on speculation, uncertainty and constantly shifting dates.”

As it became clear that the new VAT policy would come into effect for January 2025, rather than September 2025, Ms Robinson added, “The change also means the policy would take effect one academic year earlier and parents would have missed the opportunity to apply for a state school place in the normal cycle.”

“Any parent who might now need to move their child faces the prospect of an in-year admission, which is more difficult to arrange and will be detrimental to their child’s education.”

After the VAT rule change was confirmed on 29 July, ISC’s Head of Media and Communications Sarah Cunnane commented that, “We have significant concerns about what this policy will mean for our schools and how many will close. School closures are inevitable, sadly, and ultimately that is going to affect the families who’ve chosen to use them and is going to disrupt thousands of children’s education.”

In October 2023, the UK Boarding Schools’ Association published the results of a survey of Chinese parents. The 2023 edition of the the BSA’s annual parent survey collected responses from 1,000 parents of current or prospective students. And it found that the addition of VAT to school fees would impact the decision making of 60% of the responding parents, with 9% saying that the VAT would cause them to choose another country for their student’s education.

For additional background, please see:

The New Zealand government has announced increased visa fees “across almost all visa categories” that will come into effect on 1 October 2024. Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said that the changes are designed to create a more sustainable immigration system, and to shift the cost of administering the system away from New Zealand taxpayers and more heavily toward visa applicants. All told, the increased fees are expected to reduce public funding requirements for the system by more than NZ$563 million over the next four years (US$338 million).

“Until now, our immigration system has been heavily subsidised by taxpayers. The changes we’re making are shifting the cost to those benefitting from the system. We’re ensuring it is self-funding and more efficient,” said the Minister. “The new charges reflect the costs associated with visa processing, assessing and managing more high-risk applications, and increased compliance costs…[However,] the charges remain competitive in comparison to countries like Australia and the United Kingdom so we are confident New Zealand will continue to be an attractive destination to live, work, study and visit.”

Student visa fees will double

Stakeholders were advised by email on 9 August that student visa fees will be affected, and that they will double from the current NZ$375 to NZ$750 as of 1 October.

The move comes just a month after Australia’s decision to double its student visa application fees to AUD$1,600 (NZ$1,750), and it compares to the relatively low visa fees levied in other major study destinations, including Canada CDN$150 (NZ$180) and the United States US$185 (NZ$310).

The more important relative pricing among destinations, however, is unquestionably between Australia and New Zealand. Even with the adjusted fees coming into effect in October, a New Zealand student visa application will cost a little more than 40% of the price of an Australian study visa application.

What do students think?

IDP’s recent pulse survey provides some interesting insights into how visa fees influence the study plans of prospective students. It is important to note that the survey was in the field in June 2024, ahead of the actual fee increase announcements in Australia and now New Zealand. But even so, we can see some evidence of price sensitivity.

When it comes to prospective students considering study in New Zealand, 50% said that the cost of the student visa would have little impact on their study plans. However, the other 50% of respondents demonstrated more price sensitivity with 22% saying an increase would have a “medium” impact and the remaining 28% indicating it would have a “high” impact.

Presenting the findings at NZIEC 2024 in Wellington last week, IDP Partnership Director Jerry He said, “We can see that NZ-bound students appear to be more price sensitive, with half of the surveyed students claiming that student visa [fees] influences where they intend to study. This large proportion of students influenced by visa fees should benefit New Zealand.”

The IDP findings illustrate that that price sensitivity varies quite a bit by sending country, with markets such as the Philippines and Bangladesh demonstrating a higher level of concern around visa fees. Meanwhile, the issue was less of a factor for students from China. “These market distinctions are important as New Zealand seeks to target future students that may be persuaded to switch away from Australia,” added Mr He.

85% approval rate

Also speaking at NZIEC 2024, Immigration New Zealand officials shared that New Zealand has received 124,000 study visa applications since the country’s border re-opened to international visitors in August 2022. Just over 119,000 of those files have been processed to date, resulting in 101,000 visa approvals. That works out to an 85% approval rate, with applications processed within six weeks on average.

INZ officials note as well that agents are permitted to provide advice for prospective students without being a licensed immigration advisor, but only with respect to student visas. In such cases, however, the agent must declare their involvement in the student’s application by completing a student visa declaration form INZ1226.

For additional background, please see:

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) has released data showing that in 2022/23, international enrolments in the UK continued to climb to a new peak of 758,855. This represents a 12% increase over the total in 2021/22 (675,200).

It is important to note that the UK is the last of the “Big Four” study abroad destinations to report 2022/23 data, and that the 12% year-over-year growth occurred before the UK government announced that in January 2024, international students (other than those on government scholarships and in research-oriented postgraduate programmes) would lose their right to bring their family with them to the UK.
 
Preliminary data indicators for 2024 suggest that the next of round full-year HESA reporting on foreign enrolments (2023/24) will show a reversal of the growth trends we are reporting on today.

That said, the 2022/23 data represents an important baseline from which to judge the effect of immigration policy on student mobility to the UK. The last time we had such an opportunity was when the government announced that “Graduate Route” work rights would be restored in 2021. International applications enrolments correspondently surged, with an estimated economic impact in the billions of pounds.

What the 2022/23 data can tell us

India (173,190 students) surpassed China (154,260) as the main sender of students to UK universities. China had been the #1 market since 2018/19. Indian students represented a quarter (26%) of all international students in the UK in 2022/23.

India (+37%), Nigeria (+39%), and Pakistan (50%) were by far the fastest-growing student source countries, year-over-year.

The top 10 non-EU sending markets were:

• India (173,190, +37%)
• China (154,260, +2%)
• Nigeria (72,355, +39%)
• Pakistan (34,690, +50%)
• US (22,540, -2%)
• Hong Kong (17,095, +3%)
• Bangladesh (14,945, +18%)
• Malaysia (13,005, +7%)
• Saudi Arabia (9,045, +3%)
• UAE (8,350, +3%)

Non-EU enrolments continued to decline (overall, by 8%), as shown in the following chart. Only Ireland sent more students in 2022/23 than in 2021/22 (+5%). The steepest declines were from Poland, Romania, Greece, and Cyprus. Students from Europe have had less incentive to choose the UK over other top destinations since Brexit, when they lost their “home fee” status and became less eligible for financial aid.

The top EU markets were:

• France: 10,305 (-15%)  
• Italy:  9,220 (-23%)
• Spain: 8,730 (-18%)
• Germany: 8,240 (-20%)
• Ireland: 9,410 (+5%)
• Romania: 6,020 (-48%)
• Poland: 5,710 (-39%)
• Greece: 5,455 (-30%)
• Cyprus: 4,870 (-30%)
• Portugal: 4,370 (-41%)

Lag in data reporting begs questions

The UK government introduced the so-called “dependants ban” in 2024 – ahead of HESA releasing foreign enrolment data for 2022/23. Louise Nicol, founder of Founder Asia Careers Group posed this question in an 8 August 2024 LinkedIn post:

“How on earth can government set policy towards international students and universities forecast their international student recruitment working with data two years in arrears?”

It is a fair question, and one with some urgency attached to it given that:

• Domestic enrolments in UK universities fell 0.3% between 2021/22 and 2022/23 from 2,182,565 to 2,175,530, according to HESA.



• Brexit has sent EU enrolments into a tailspin. Universities UK International (UUKi) and Studyportals research shows that between 2020 and 2021, there was a 37% decrease in the number of EU undergraduate applications to UK universities and a 47% drop in the number of EU students accepted to UK universities. That decline accelerated according to the 2022/23 HESA data.



• In July, data revealed a -16% decrease in student visa applications from July 2023 to July 2024. Mark Corbett, head of policy and networks at London Higher, said that if the trend holds all year, it could equate to almost a billion pounds in lost revenue in 2025.

Essentially, the government is depressing non-EU enrolments through policy at the same time as EU enrolments are declining and UK university recruiters have lost their pricing advantage in Europe due to Brexit.

International education’s sector peak bodies are sounding the alarm. In July 2024, Jo Grady, UCU’s general secretary, wrote a letter to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Skills Minister Jacqui Smith last week in which she stated:

“Anything short of an emergency rescue package for the sector will be insufficient to stave off catastrophe. This funding package should, though, come with conditions such as ensuring jobs are protected. We think there are three universities we have been able to identify that could be close to financial collapse and would benefit from state intervention and support. If they do not get state support they will struggle still and use cuts to staff as shock absorbers. We see this as a systemic crisis. We don’t think parents and prospective students understand the total mess some of our universities are in.”

Last year, the International Higher Education Commission, supported by Oxford International Education Group, released a report warning the government about the perilous state of UK higher education:

“Without urgent actions to diversify markets and ensure a more balanced distribution of international students across programmes of study, the UK HE sector is potentially in an extremely vulnerable position.”

For additional background, please see:

A fascinating new report informed by a survey of 17,000+ respondents across 17 countries reveals that a significant majority of people across the world consider themselves “lifetime learners.” What’s more, most survey respondents believe that earning micro-credentials will be as important as earning a degree by 2035.

The report was produced by ETS, the world’s largest private educational testing and measurement organisation, and it is entitled the 2024 Human Progress Report. The authors consider that the development of successful societies hinges on three interrelated factors:

• Access to education
• Pursuit of upward mobility
• Engagement in upskilling/reskilling

ETS has pioneered a measurement system to create the “ETS Human Progress Index,” and this year’s survey serves as the baseline for the index to be updated annually. The aim is for the index to serve as “a gauge of global advancement and an opportunity to identify
gaps that demand increased attention.”

The surveyed countries were:

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• Kenya
• India
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Mexico
• Nigeria
• South Korea
• Vietnam
• UAE
• UK
• USA

Key findings

• 88% of global respondents said that to succeed in today’s hyper-competitive world, continuous learning is essential and tied to security and well-being.

• 86% agreed that “as time goes on, more jobs will require skills people don’t currently have.”

• Access to education is uneven across the world and “disparities in access are often rooted in socioeconomic status and government investment.” Interestingly, some of the countries in which citizens feel especially challenged in this sense are not the least developed, but often the most advanced (e.g., South Korea, France, Canada, UK, US).

• Respondents who are most pessimistic about the state of higher education in their country are from advanced economies, especially France (68% pessimistic) and South Korea (61% pessimistic).

• There is a sense that technology – and rapid advances in technology – lead to acquired skills quickly becoming obsolete, which underscores the importance of access to lifelong learning.

• More than three-quarters (78%) of respondents believe that being able to prove that a new skill has been mastered (e.g., by means of a certificate) will be as valuable as a degree by 2035.

• More than 7 in 10 respondents see a role for AI-generated guidance and assessments in the future.

Nuances of the findings

We can imagine that some responses are heavily informed by cultural context. For example, respondents in high-income countries were responding amid educational contexts that have been relatively advanced for years. Most of those respondents would not have experienced what it is like to live in a country with an objectively sub-par educational system. Such a bias might be reflected in the following chart from the report, where respondents in Brazil, Mexico, Kenya, and Nigeria occupy the top right-hand quadrant (“quality education is very important and difficult to access”) and respondents in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, UK, and US are in the bottom right-hand quadrant defined in part by a (questionable) sense that quality of education is less important.

Respondents in mid-income countries were also more likely to consider that quality education is mostly reserved for more privileged members of their society.

Affordability is a key challenge

The top three barriers that respondents cited in terms of accessing quality of education are “too expensive/lack of financial resources” (57%), “socio-economic background” (32%), and “lack of qualified teachers” (31%). The relative affordability of micro-credentials is thus a major competitive advantage for providers of them – and we can imagine that this this advantage would become even more compelling if micro-credentials were better recognised and valued in formal educational systems.

Financial insecurity and worries about the future rise in certain countries

The following screenshot shows how much worry is present among many families in developing economies about their children’s future well-being and about staying financially solvent.

Entrenched social classes are an issue for many families in economies characterised by large gaps between the rich and poor. This is mostly a characteristic of poorer countries, but it is also the case in the US, which is home to the highest number of billionaires in the world. In the US, the top 1% of earners take 15% of all wages earned in the country.

Indians, Vietnamese, and Kenyans were the most likely to agree that “My family has historically faced challenges in achieving socioeconomic and financial security.” In the US, agreement with this statement was much higher among people of colour (POCs) than white people (26% vs. 13%, respectively).

The terrible toll of systemic inequality

The most cited reasons for an inability to achieve upward mobility were “income inequality” (39%), lack of job opportunities (34%), and “systemic bias (28%).

The role of AI

Acceptance of AI is rising around the world despite concerns about its potential to replace the value of human intelligence/innovation and to be used by bad actors. The ETS survey results reveal that global respondents see a role for AI to play in how people learn and are assessed: 78% agreed that “AI can enhance learning assessments by tailoring them to individual needs” and 72% agreed that they “would trust AI-generated guidance for improving skills.” That said, 71% consider AI to have the potential to “negatively impact learning assessments due to unintentional biases and programming flaws.”

Insights from the experts

Spiked into the ETS report are insightful quotes from experts, employers, and analysts. These include:

• “The biggest mismatches are now on the quality and relevance of skills.” —Andreas Schleicher, Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills OECD

• “Learning how to learn is probably the key skill. The half-life of skills is getting shorter as more and more technology comes in. The most important ability is learning how to use the new tools in the way that is resonant with being a human and the job to be done.”—Eric Lavin, Partner, Avalanche VC

• “Higher education is very slow to react … I think there are two major forces that are putting pressure on higher education. One is technology, and second is the needs of the market.”—Shai Reshef, Founder and President, University of the People

• “In the past, the benchmark for everyone was the same, we were all measured against the same criteria. In the future, we will be able to develop a personalised assessment, based on individual abilities and aspirations, which would be a great step forward.”—Joana Lenkova, Futurist and Strategist, Futures Forward

Future currency

As for the conclusions that can be drawn from the findings of the global survey, the authors of the ETS 2024 Human Progress Report write:

“Continuous learning emerges as the currency of tomorrow. Those proficient at leveraging certifications, micro-credentials and AI will lead the charge, creating innovative paths to success. The resounding acknowledgment of “lifetime learners” as a global majority highlights an inseparable link between continuous learning and individual security.

Despite challenges in accessing education, achieving upward mobility and engaging in upskilling/reskilling, society recognizes the importance of these factors for human progress. The challenges, while formidable, are not insurmountable. They demand innovative solutions, assessments and credentialling to ensure a holistic and accessible educational journey.”

For additional background, please see:

On 16 May 2024, the Australian government brought forward a series of proposed amendments to the country’s Education Services for Overseas Students Act (ESOS). The Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024 would provide the government with additional powers to audit and sanction providers, and – most controversially – to cap foreign enrolment at the institutional and/or course level (Part 7 of the amendments) or to cancel a class or course outright (Part 8).

The bill has passed its first reading, and has been debated at second reading. Earlier this week, on 6 August, the Australian Senate convened a public hearing in Canberra to hear from witnesses on the proposed amendments. While a second day of hearings is also anticipated, the 6 August programme was largely taken up with representatives from major peak bodies across Australian education, and they were unanimous in their vigorous criticism of the pending ESOS bill. Speaker after speaker challenged the underlying rationale for the proposed changes, characterising the bill as an overreach and an unwarranted intrusion by government into both the public and private sectors of the Australian system.

For example, the first witness, Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy, said in his opening statement, “Universities Australia supports the government’s intention to maintain the integrity and sustainability of the international education sector, but we believe the bill as drafted is more a political smokescreen than an instrument for good policy, as the government seeks to gain an upper hand in the battle of migration ahead of the next election.”

He added, “Our main issue lies with the amendments that seek to control the number of international students our universities can enrol and what courses they can enrol in. This is ministerial overreach to an extent we have never seen before…No other major export industry is treated the way that international education is right now – not mining, agriculture nor tourism, none of them. It’s worth noting that, even without legislative powers to cap international students, the government has already taken a sledgehammer to the international education sector. Department of Home Affairs data shows that visa grants to higher education are down 23% in the past year – the equivalent of 59,410 university students.”

Speaking on the same witness panel, Group of Eight Chief Executive Vicki Thomson added that, “This rushed and poorly framed legislation is a classic example of retrofitting policy to suit dubious politics…We very clearly, with no ambiguity, do not support a blunt cap on international students, and that’s what parts 7 and 8 will deliver. Those two parts give the minister of the day the power to apply caps on international student enrolments at universities down to course level. They are draconian, interventionist and amount to economic vandalism.”

A 40% limit capped at 2019 levels

The hearing occurred the same day an exclusive report was published in the Australian Financial Review which cited high-level government sources to reveal that, “Government would set 1 January 2025 as the start date for the [enrolment] caps, resisting pressure from universities and colleges to delay their introduction for a year.” The report added that, “Universities and colleges will be limited to enrolling a maximum of 40% of their students from overseas, with caps to be in place for two years and numbers based on 2019 [enrolment levels].”

Those components of the proposed cap system outlined in Parts 7 and 8 of the ESOS bill have not be been confirmed. However, they were openly discussed by Senate officials and witnesses during the 6 August hearings, and there was no disagreement around the substance of the report.

If those limits are applied, they could have a profound impact on some of the country’s largest institutions. The AFR analysis, for example, estimates that the University of Sydney, would need to reduce its foreign enrolment by more than 12,000 students, while the University of Melbourne would need a reduction of nearly 8,000 students. Those institutions, and eight others, currently have foreign enrolments above the reported 40% threshold.

Private providers in the balance

“We believe the bill should be opposed,” said Independent Higher Education Australia Chief Executive Dr Peter Hendy. “The bulk of what the government is doing is not actually about integrity measures; it is simply about reducing immigration numbers. We believe that TEQSA and ASQA, who are the regulatory agencies in both the higher education and the vocational educational sectors and have the job of ensuring integrity, should be allowed to do their jobs. Government actions have already had a significant and adverse impact on independent higher education providers, who make a significant contribution to their local economies through creating employment opportunities and demonstrating a dedication to serve students, staff and the wider community.”

“Australian government data show that, in 2023, the number of international student enrolments in Australia was only 2.4% above pre-pandemic levels,” added Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA) Deputy Chief Felix Pirie. “This is not the explosion in numbers that some have spoken of…However, recent government interventions in the migration framework—which we heard about just in the previous session—and the proposed bill before you today threaten to undermine the progress that we’ve made. Proposed reforms could exacerbate existing challenges rather than promote progress and further hinder the ability of the independent providers to effectively support international students…the bill includes provisions that are, to be frank, a job-killer.”

In a related 7 August release, ITECA Chief Executive Troy Williams went further in saying, “The Australian Government’s international education policy is in tatters and lacks a cohesive strategy. The Government is now drowning in its own baseless rhetoric…The result is a number of knee-jerk policy responses that are not only damaging Australia’s reputation as a welcoming destination for overseas students but causing anxiety for the 30,000 people employed with independent providers in the independent tertiary education sector.”

Recent visa data for Australia indicates that the private sector has indeed been hard hit this year with historically high rejection rates for visa applicants.

ITECA’s submission to the Senate hearing this week outlines that, “The Government appears to have limited understanding of the damage being inflicted on the independent sector. For example, in the period 1 July 2023 to 30 April 2024, there was a total of 268,365 primary student visas granted. Of these, just 15,400 were granted to students from offshore seeking to study a skills training course. That’s just 5.7% of the total number of student visa grants in this period. Outside the pandemic years, this is the lowest since 2014/15.”

Why are we doing this again?

Among many other commentators on Australia’s proposed legislation, Australian National University Professor Andrew Norton’s recently published, and highly insightful, analysis makes a number of key points.

“Over the last year the government has implemented nine significant migration policy changes to reduce the number of current and former international students in Australia,” concludes Professor Norton. “[They include] visa processing priorities, increased English language levels, increased savings prior to coming to Australia, greater use of ‘no further stay’ conditions on student visas, a requirement to show ‘logical course progression’ if applying for another student visa, no onshore student visa applications for visitor visa holders, no onshore student visa applications for temporary graduate visa holders, shorter temporary graduate visas and more than doubling the student visa application fee. A tenth migration policy change, abolishing points commonly used by former international students in points-tested permanent residence visas, has been foreshadowed.

Some of these changes, while likely to reduce student demand, should help with widely acknowledged issues in international education, such as student poverty and insufficient English language ability…Other migration policy changes are hard to defend…With nine migration changes already implemented and a tenth to follow, the government has probably done enough to achieve population moderation. Even without policy change, 2025 should be a more ‘normal’ year in international education. Post-COVID pent up demand should have largely cleared between 2022 and 2024. By 2025, course completions by the commencing cohorts of preceding years should increase, producing more international student departures to offset arrivals, a process that restrictions on applying for further visas will accelerate.

Instead of pausing to see whether it had found the right balance between its overall migration goals and maintaining an industry the education minister still says is an ‘incredibly important national asset’, the government introduced a bill to cap international students by education provider and course from 2025.

The ESOS amendment bill appears to have been rushed…Consultation with other government agencies was so unsatisfactory that the vocational education regulator, the higher education regulator, and the department responsible for issuing student visas have all, via their Senate inquiry submissions, gone public with their concerns.

On its current trajectory, the government will cause much more damage than is necessary to achieve its policy goals. Its mistreatment of people hoping to study in Australia will harm the country’s reputation. Some education providers will close and others will shrink. Thousands of people working in the education sector will lose their jobs. Other industries relying on international students as workers and customers will go into decline. International education policy needs a period of pause and reflection, not the current poorly thought through plan to cap international student numbers.”

For additional background, please see:

Education New Zealand (ENZ) announced this week that the country has set an ambitious goal to grow its international education sector over the next three years. That strategy aims to see the economic impact of the sector grow to NZ$4.4 billion by 2027 (US$2.6 billion), with an emphasis on growing and diversifying the number of foreign students enrolled in New Zealand.

Building from an estimated base economic contribution of NZ$2.2 billion for 2023 (US$1.3 billion), this will mean expanding the international enrolment base in New Zealand from just over 69,000 students last year to 100,000 enrolments by 2027.

“International education has made a good start to its recovery with more than 69,000 enrolments in the first full academic year since borders reopened and universities returning to 86% of pre-pandemic numbers,” said ENZ Acting Chief Executive Dr Linda Sissons. “The government has a goal of doubling the value of export earnings in ten years and international education has its part to play.”

ENZ’s strategy rests in part on additional planned investments in key growth markets, including India, Vietnam, and the Philippines, along with targeted investments in specific market segments in Japan and Thailand. “We need to start now to grow awareness of New Zealand in these markets if we are to achieve our growth targets,” added Dr Sissons. “Moving forward, we will continue to seek growth through diversifying markets while maintaining our strength in traditional markets such as China and India.”

What do students think?

The expansion plan will get a boost from the 2024 edition of the International Student Experience Survey, the results of which were released today. This year’s survey gathered responses from 6,431 foreign students in New Zealand during May and June 2024. Nearly nine in ten (86%) rated their experience of studying in the country positively (up 2% from last year), with 41% saying that they had had an “excellent” experience in New Zealand (a notable 8% increase from the 2023 survey).

Students responded most favourably with respect to the people and connections they experienced in New Zealand (90%), followed by education experience (87%), making study arrangements (87%), arrival and orientation (85%), and living experience (83%).

Students also positively rated their experience using an education agent, particularly their agent’s knowledge of their education provider’s application process (84%), New Zealand application options (81%), and how using an education agent reduced the time taken to complete their application (79%).

“We are delighted to see how positive students are about the people they meet and connections they form in New Zealand. This speaks strongly to the enriching ties these students will have to our country in the long run, and how we will benefit and learn from each other,” said Dr Sissons.

Sharpening a new strategy

Speaking at the New Zealand International Education Conference (NZIEC) in Wellington this week, ENZ officials began to lay out a case – and a plan – for a new strategy that will help New Zealand further build its international enrolment.

“In a sea of [competing destinations], it’s increasingly difficult to stand out for students and for student families,” said ENZ Director, Marketing and Brand Adrian Hirst. “How do we differentiate ourselves? If we don’t differentiate ourselves, we run the risk of being totally ignored. We need something to hang our hat on. We need something that resonates with the core needs and motivations of our audience, and we need to look at differentiating in a way that adds quality and value to our industry.”

ENZ Director of Innovation and Growth Christina Gomes explained that the agency has been through a very deliberate planning process of matching international demand for education with areas of training where New Zealand has deep expertise: “Over the past six months we have developed a future-focused framework that looks at the intersection of demand – what the world wants – and overlays that with what New Zealand can supply. The intersection of supply and demand is where opportunity lies, and the sweet spot is that space where we have a defendable competitive advantage.”

That analysis landed on three focus sectors where ENZ felt that New Zealand has globally recognised expertise: agri-food systems, aerospace technology, and renewable energy.

“One in three people worldwide work in the agri-food sector,” she added. “It is the single largest area of employment in the world. So is this opportunity big enough for us? New Zealand is a leading source of expertise and credibility in this area. We have a global reputation and world-class education pathways leading to global employment opportunities. This is not about working in a field. It encompasses the entire value chain from soil science to food design and development through to supply chain and marketing. This is where the future lies.”

ENZ Manager Innovation and Growth Tim Brown explained that the branding and marketing programme will now enter a new pilot phase for testing and validation in the coming months. This will allow for market testing of a variety of new touchstones for students and families, including case studies and a new virtual open day platform.

That pilot phase kicked off this week with ENZ’s launch of a refreshed “mixed reality” tool that combines virtual reality with interactive displays and other resources. The tool is designed to provide an immersive experience for prospective students with the goal of allowing them to sample the New Zealand study environment, and to learn more about the opportunities across the food production value chain.

Through the final quarter of 2024, ENZ will be doing some further market testing of its new marketing resources, including the mixed reality tool, in China and South Asia and with the goal of driving student interest to the virtual open day later in the year, and generating new student leads for NZ institutions through early 2025.

For additional background, please see:

Listen in as ICEF’s Craig Riggs and Martijn van de Veen recap some recent industry news, including a shortage of beds for ELT students in the UK and the impact of a second Trump presidency on recruitment for the United States.

This month’s episode features a conversation exploring the diverse study opportunities for foreign students in Europe. Our special guests include Jasper Witteveen, a Project Officer with Erasmus Mundus at the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), and Nannette Ripmeester, Director of Performance Benchmarking Europe and North America with Etio.

We conclude with a closer look at Brazil as the latest stop for our “Keys to the Market” segment.

You can listen right now in the player below, and we encourage you to subscribe via your favourite podcast app in order to receive future episodes automatically.