Education agents recruiting on behalf of New Zealand providers have a new resource to ensure they are providing the best information to international students, after Education New Zealand unveiled its highly anticipated agent training portal.
AgentLab, launched in early July, comes after about a year of development and industry collaboration, replacing ENZ’s previous agent training platform to enhance engagement with agents and communicate changes within the country.
“There have been considerable changes in technology and learning styles”
“Education agents play an important role in New Zealand’s international education sector,” said ENZ chief executive Grant McPherson.
“Currently, more than half of all international students who study in New Zealand engage with an education agent for advice and information before their arrival.”
The new platform also places interactivity at its core, gamifying the process and allowing agents to undertake the short, 10-minute modules in any order they choose.
“In addition to interactive courses, AgentLab will have live webinars, a document library and the latest education news from New Zealand,” McPherson said.
ENZ announced an update to its training platform in 2018 as a means to provide new information on New Zealand as a study destination and to take advantage of improvements in technology.
“There have been considerable changes in technology and learning styles since [2013] that mean the program is not as effective as it could be,” ENZ’s channel services and partnerships director, Dan Smidt, told The PIE News at the time.
The platform has also been enhanced for access on both mobile and desktop.
Additional course content will be added to AgentLab over time, and McPherson said international education stakeholders, such as providers, study clusters and peak bodies, would also be able to contribute to content in the future.
In late 2017, Labour minister Priyanca Radhakrishnan announced the government’s intention to regulate offshore agents.
