Large contingent of New Zealand education providers at China’s biggest international education events

Kicking off the series of events was the China Annual Conference and Expo for International Education (CACIE) in Beijing from 26 to 28 October. Over 4500 participants from 60 countries and regions attended CACIE 2023. This event is China’s largest annual international education conference and this year saw 16 New Zealand providers spanning all our education subsectors exhibiting at the ENZ hosted New Zealand Pavilion. 

New Zealand’s representation was amongst a total of 18 national pavilions and 326 education providers from 33 countries and regions. An estimated 20,480 attended the CEE Beijing fair in person over the two days and our participation generated visibility and fostered relationships with speaking appearances, media interviews and engagement with senior Chinese stakeholders during the conference.  

ENZ’s Regional Director, China, Michael Zhang said that the highlight of the government-sponsored event was having New Zealand being offered speaking slots for several keynotes, helping raise the visibility of a New Zealand education to a wide audience, especially given the level of competition from other countries at the Expo.  

“The New Zealand pavilion once again secured the prime spot in the expo and during the conference, a reflection of our excellent in-market and government relationships and an important factor in helping to regain New Zealand's visibility in China’s international education sector.  

“The student mobility activity in China has come roaring back this year following the pandemic. The market is huge, but competition is fierce. A few key takeaways from this major event were how student enquiries are becoming much more outcomes driven, career focused and detailed in comparison around offerings, compared to the start of the year where students had more broad questions about a New Zealand education.  

“It’s also clear students in China are increasingly shopping around and applying to more study destinations before making a decision. This suggests we need to strengthen our efforts around conversion to ensure we remain competitive, and students will choose New Zealand when faced with offers from multiple destinations” added Michael.  

ENZ’s Regional Director, China, Michael Zhang, undertook several media interviews, including with tier one Chinese education media channels Study Abroad magazine and China Education Television. ENZ also facilitated media interviews between Chinese media and New Zealand providers at our national pavilion.

Following the China Education Expo, a series of agent seminars were held in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou between 30 October and 3 November.  

The Beijing Agent Seminar hosted 38 providers and 80 agents and school counsellors with more counsellors from the international departments of public schools attending than in previous years. New Zealand Ambassador to China, HE Grahame Morton, attended the event and four representatives of Immigration New Zealand’s Beijing office were also on hand to engage with agents and delivered a series of presentations. These in-market presentations attracted full houses across the Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou events – reflecting a strong demand for capacity building from Chinese agents. Much of the interest was focused on student visa applications and processing, decision times, and troubleshooting issues.

Attendees at the Beijing Agent Seminar

The Shanghai Agent Seminar saw over 100 agents meeting with the 40 New Zealand Education providers present, with New Zealand Consul-General Ardi Barnard providing opening remarks. An on-site livestream session reached 2,566 viewers across five platforms earning over 6,000 engagements. In total 28 NZ providers representing all sectors opted-in to undertake flash interview sessions during the livestream. Broadcasting by ENZ’s and partner agent online platforms, providers were able to introduce their institutions, programmes, and other features directly to prospective audiences online. Enquiries generated during the livestream are being followed up by ENZ who are directing them to the appropriate New Zealand education provider’s website or contact information and agents. 

One of four livestream sessions that ENZ hosted featuring representatives from New Zealand universities, PTEs, Te Pūkenga and other tertiary institutions. ENZ gave advice to students and parents about how to choose study programmes based on the job market trends in both China and New Zealand.