Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Olympian Barbara Kendall both gave keynote speeches at the Auckland event, which involved more than 450 delegates and a range of seminars and workshops. “New Zealand’s international education institutions, businesses and organisations were strongly represented,” Mike Booker, senior communications advisor at Education New Zealand (ENZ) said.

In his speech, ENZ’s chief executive, Grant McPherson, spoke of the “incredible journey” the industry had been on in the past 18 months as the country mobilised itself towards doubling education exports by 2025.

This involved the establishment of Education New Zealand itself in September 2011 followed by an upsurge in marketing – as called for in ENZ’s Statement of Intent earlier this year. “We really have come a long way,” said McPherson.

Jazreel Goh, British Council East Asia Regional Director (Education Services) also presented at the conference, and there was a panel discussion on digital marketing with input from M&C Saatchi New Zealand and Tourism New Zealand.

Recent marketing efforts for New Zealand international education have included a major television campaign in China and new plans to turn Auckland into an education hub. It will also take student visa applications online from late 2013 to speed up processing with overseas students the first to benefit.