New Zealand focuses on investing in Vietnam, opening many opportunities for international students

Vietnamese students in a nature lesson at Wellington College (Wellington City, New Zealand)

Faster student visa processing

Education New Zealand (ENZ) announced in early August a plan to develop the country's international education sector with the goal of contributing 4.4 billion NZD to the economy by 2027, "focusing on increasing and diversifying the number of international students", meaning increasing enrollment with diverse nationalities. In the first year, ENZ said it would focus on investing in markets identified by the agency as having "growth potential".

"These include India, the Philippines and Vietnam, and specific sectors in markets such as Japan and Thailand. We need to start now to raise awareness of New Zealand in these markets if we are to achieve our growth targets," Dr Linda Sissons, Acting CEO of ENZ, said in a statement.

According to ENZ, the above strategy is the result of extensive consultation with stakeholders in the international education industry and government agencies, as well as from the reality of the past year of operation. The unit also said that it has successfully organized 18 events in 5 countries, including Vietnam.

The above move is just one of the favors given to Vietnamese people by this island nation, according to study abroad experts. Mr. Allan Mai, Director of AU Hannah Study Abroad Consulting Company in Ho Chi Minh City, added: "The attraction of studying abroad in New Zealand is its fairly stable immigration policy such as post-graduation work rights. Another reason is safety."

New Zealand students at the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), a member school of the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, present their smart home project.

Ms. Banh Pham Ngoc Van, Director of ENZ in Vietnam, said that in recent years, New Zealand has continuously implemented many "exclusive" initiatives specifically for Vietnam. And according to a survey Ms. Van conducted with study abroad consulting companies specializing in New Zealand in Vietnam, the time to review student visa applications for Vietnamese people is mostly about 3-4 weeks, less than half the world average (80% reviewed within 6 weeks).

"Currently, the fee for a New Zealand student visa is 430 NZD (about 6.5 million VND), the requirement for financial proof is 17,000 NZD for high school (about 253 million VND) and 20,000 NZD (about 298 million VND) for university," Ms. Van said, adding that from this year, many universities accept direct admission of Vietnamese students based on their grade 12 transcript scores of 8.0 or higher, instead of requiring them to wait until they have their high school graduation exam results.

More scholarship opportunities

Speaking to Thanh Nien , Mr. Ben Burrows, ENZ Director for Asia, said that one of ENZ's focuses in the coming time is to increase scholarships and maintain the government scholarship program for high school students specifically for Vietnamese (NZSS). Notably, ENZ is for the first time building a strategy to develop the overall presence of New Zealand universities in Vietnam.

“In 2018, we designed a similar strategy for secondary schools to promote NZSS and achieved many successes. So, in the strategy with universities, we are also looking at many new initiatives such as government scholarships at undergraduate level,” Mr. Burrows said.

At the government level, in addition to high school scholarships, New Zealand currently has postgraduate scholarships for a number of countries around the world, including Vietnam (MNZS).

New Zealand high school students in physical education class at King's College (Auckland, New Zealand)

Another point Mr. Burrows made is that although New Zealand wants to attract more international students, the country does not want to see "hot" growth at the level of hundreds of thousands of people. For example, Mr. Burrows said that at the time of the pandemic, about 130,000 international students studied in New Zealand. This number dropped sharply when the country closed its borders due to Covid-19 and recovered by about half by 2023, with nearly 70,000 people.

"Our country is quite small, with a population of about 5 million people (lower than the total population of Ho Chi Minh City of 8.9 million people in 2023 - PV) and a native culture that is oriented towards nature, so we cannot accept too many international students. In addition, attracting international students also creates opportunities for New Zealand students to access diverse lifestyles and cultures of other countries, thereby helping both sides become global citizens," he emphasized.

Previously, sharing with Thanh Nien in the capital Wellington of New Zealand, Mr. Nguyen Van Trung, Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand, acknowledged that New Zealand's education system is designed to suit a small population. Therefore, their approach is "very practical, going straight to the needs of students aiming at the labor market rather than aiming at degrees and achievements".

This is clearly demonstrated through the education system that allows students to work after graduating from high school, as well as the university education system that is clearly differentiated into research (with 8 universities) or application (schools under the Academy of Skills and Technology, private schools). Work opportunities are very open because New Zealand is lacking labor and international students are also allowed to work 20 hours/week, according to Ambassador Nguyen Van Trung.

Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Nguyen Van Trung (sitting at the head of the table) at a meeting with the media and New Zealand alumni in November 2023

According to statistics from ENZ, 69,135 international students will enroll in education providers in New Zealand in 2023, an increase of 67% compared to 2022. Of these, 1,736 are from Vietnam, an increase of 10% compared to the previous year but still about half the record (3,042 in 2019), most concentrated in universities (1,120) and secondary schools (308).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/new-zealand-tap-trung-dau-tu-vao-viet-nam-mo-nhieu-co-hoi-cho-du-hoc-sinh-18524081809424009.htm