New Zealand will be the featured country at ExpoBelta 2012, a major Brazilian education fair to be held in São Paulo in March.
“For many years, students from Brazil have enjoyed coming to New Zealand to attend school or study English, but this is a great opportunity to tell more Brazilians than ever before about the benefits,” said Ana Azevedo, education marketing manager for Education New Zealand in Brazil.
ExpoBelta is run annually by BELTA, the largest Brazilian agency association, and welcomed 11,000 guests in 2011 – a figure it hopes to trump this year. Guests include educators, agents and service provides from all over the world.
Every year, a country is invited to be the main expositor, with the UK filling the role in 2011. As this year’s featured country, New Zealand will have a large, centrally located pavilion at the event where representatives from 13 educational institutions will be on hand to advise students and parents. It will also be the subject of a 10-page feature in the BELTA magazine.
A spokesperson for Education New Zealand said that the country had been successful at attracting high school and English language students from Brazil, but was seeking to broaden this base by raising the profile of other education sectors.
“The quality of New Zealand’s universities and institutes of technology is among the best in the world,” said Azevedo. “Everyone knows that New Zealand is beautiful, fun and safe, but it’s also an excellent place to get an education.”
Six New Zealand polytechnics and institutes of technology will attend the expo along with one of New Zealand’s newest private education providers, the famous Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, and the University of Waikato.
Immigration New Zealand representatives will also be on hand to answer student visa questions, while Brazilian alumni are expected to help by telling fairgoers about their reasons for choosing to study in New Zealand.
Education New Zealand said it was also translating its student-facing New Zealand Educated website into Portuguese for the benefit of Brazilian students and parents.
BELTA said that while the schedule for the expo was yet to be finalised, Chile and South Africa would have a considerably larger presence at ExpoBelta than last year. Guests will enjoy a range of events and seminars on topics such as student visas, currency and course trends.
