The education sector in New Zealand will have a crucial year in 2023 as the world reopens for travel, education, and work after the pandemic. The past three years have been challenging for the sector, as almost no international students came to study due to the border closure. Universities and polytechnics have lost a lot of revenue that international students used to contribute. Many are now wondering if the sector will see a revival this year, or if it will take until 2024 for the number of international students to go back to pre-pandemic levels.
The new prime minister, Chris Hipkins, is the former education minister, so it would be fair to assume that he’s aware of the contribution of international students whether undergraduate, or postgraduate, to NZ’s society and economy. He would also understand the importance of rebuilding NZ’s international student numbers now that the country’s Covid-19 border restrictions have been lifted. However, there have been reports of Chinese university students rushing to NZ to study, the number of students from another big education market - India, is not very exciting, as they look at other education destinations such as the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia.
NZ’s international education sector was thriving before the pandemic, generating at least $1.25 billion annually. Additionally, universities’ earnings from export education made up 1.2% of all NZ’s exports of goods and services. Approximately 30,000 international students were enrolled in New Zealand university programs before the pandemic began.
Te Pukenga, the new crown entity is made up of the country’s 16 polytechnics and nine industry training organizations, will play an important role in the revival of the international education sector. It was working towards a unified Te Pukenga brand from March 1, but the plans have been delayed due to various issues, including the resignation of senior executives. Due to the delays, education providers, including Ara Institute of Canterbury, Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec), Southern Institute of Technology (SIT), and Open Polytechnic, will continue to use co-branding on their advertising, website, and program information.
Andrew McSweeney, Deputy Chief Executive Learner and Employer Experience and Attraction shared an update on international students studying at Ara, a part of Te Pukenga. He said, “We are very excited about the interest international students have shown in Te Pukenga, including our Ara division. NZ is an attractive prospect for international students and interest is building in all the options Te Pukenga has to offer. In part that’s because we’re now working as a network, we’re able to amplify the marketing of the full network and work closer with agents because we are one,”
“We’re also working closely with students, agents and Immigration NZ to make students entry in New Zealand as smooth as possible. We know that visa processing is taking longer than expected and so we’ve shared practical Immigration NZ advice with our agents to help reduce some of those delays. We also know that flight availability isn’t what it was before the pandemic.
For example, China Southern Airlines and Emirates are not flying into Christchurch yet. To help with this, where possible, we’re giving international students a two-week extension to their start date to accommodate any delays. We’re also able to look across the network for other options. That said we expect some students will have to defer their start to later 2023 or 2024 intakes.”
“Those students who already here are settling in well and excited by their opportunity to study abroad with us.”
