ISANA NZ executive director Chris Beard said he welcomed the collaboration on behalf of international education professionals and looked forward to working with the group to facilitate fast recovery for the schools, tertiary education providers and organisations.

“These are tough times for the international education industry in New Zealand and we will help fast-track international students returning to New Zealand by collaborating together and providing resources to education providers,” said Allianz Partners chief sales officer David Wallace.

“One of our goals is to help education providers be ready for the influx of prospective international students when our borders reopen.”

“One of our goals is to help education providers be ready for the influx of prospective international students when our borders reopen”

They kicked off with a webinar on April 21 on “Bringing Students Back to New Zealand”, “the first webinar in an eight country series focused on getting the world on one page for facilitating the return of student mobility”.

“This webinar, which was attended by more than 200 participants, provided a platform for local and international experts to examine ways to revitalise, redefine and renew New Zealand’s export education sector,” said Allianz Partners communications and marketing advisor Sera Jeong.

The group intends to focus on facilitating the coordinated flow of students back into the country as the border steadily reopens, and rebuilding capacity.

“On the one hand, New Zealand has enhanced its ‘safe haven’ status because of our capacity to contain Covid-19; on the other hand, this has kept the border shut for an extended period,” Jeong continued.

“The re-opening of the border has only just begun with the creation of a trans-Tasman bubble. The partnerships… fuses together international and local initiatives to support the recovery of the international education sector.”