The Minister of Education Hon Chris Hipkins has announced a long-term recovery plan for the international education sector that includes a $51.6 million investment from the COVID recovery and response fund to help reset New Zealand’s international education sector. 

The Plan consists of three concurrent workstreams that focus on stabilising the international education sector, strengthening the system and accelerating the transformation of the sector as signalled in the  2018 International Education Strategy.

The Government is investing:

• $20 million in support for state and state-integrated schools for the remainder of 2020 to continue to employ the specialist international workforce to continue teaching and providing pastoral care to international students who remain in New Zealand.
• $10 million for Private Training Establishments (PTEs) including English language schools to buffer the sharp decline in revenue and maintain a foundation of PTEs for the recovery phase.
• $10 million to develop new future-focused products and services to drive growth in our system onshore and offshore, to ensure a more resilient sector. This will include:
  • Allowing students to begin studying from their home country to provide greater flexibility for learners and make our international education sector more resilient to shocks such as COVID-19.
  • A unified digital platform to provide a single strong New Zealand brand and presence to enable providers to deliver study programmes to more people offshore.
• $6.6 million to continue the pastoral care and other activities for international students, subject to the proposed cancellation of the Export Education Levy for 2020/21.
• $3 million for marketing and brand promotion activities to keep New Zealand’s education brand visible in key markets while travel is restricted.
• $1.5 million for English Language Schools to deliver English language training to migrants to help them to succeed in our schools and communities. 
• $500k to develop a quality assurance process to ensure the ongoing quality of a New Zealand education being delivered offshore, through NZQA.

We are currently developing criteria with the Ministry of Education for the allocation of funding for Private Training Establishments (PTEs) and English language schools. We will open applications for funding from mid-August. All TEOs will be sent more information then.

You can find out more information on the plan and what it will mean for the sector on Education New Zealand’s website.