Education New Zealand: The country and the culture beyond the books

What I think stands out about New Zealand are the people. I have to say that being a New Zealander, we're very welcoming people, really friendly. That's really part of our culture.

And in te reo Māori (language), we talk about Manaakitanga (hospitality and generosity) — that's the concept of welcoming people into your home, caring for them while they're here.

We also are a country you can explore. It's safe. There are no snakes. There's no alligators. So it's a safe environment. It is also a very liberal, progressive space that students often seek.

We have a beautiful environment, it's an opportunity to explore and as I said before, our education system really empowers young people to learn in the way that they want to learn. They can choose the subjects that they'd like to study, they have an opportunity to be active in their learning and to develop critical thinking skills that are applicable in any role all over the world.

In New Zealand, our policies post-COVID pandemic, have been perhaps a little bit more measured. So we haven't seen the huge numbers of students come back in the way that the US,  Australia and Canada did.

So while our recovery is going really well, it's at a much more considered pace. 

We do not have the exact numbers right now but I can indicate that we are about 50 or 60 percent back to where we were pre-pandemic, and that's quite a good number for us to be.

It has enabled our sector to recover and build up their capability alongside with the number of students that come. And within that sort of growth, the university sector has done particularly well.

We're very pleased with how the universities have recovered. And we're also pleased that there is a good number of students from India coming in again.