As part of his go to to the Southeast Asian nation, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon hailed the contribution of Vietnamese college students, and introduced extra alternatives for them to review within the nation.
“College students from Vietnam attending our colleges and universities provides over $88 million to our economic system,” Luxon said in a publish on LinkedIn.
“[I] was additionally thrilled to announce extra alternatives for Vietnamese college students to review in New Zealand, and witness partnerships agreed between New Zealand and Vietnamese training establishments at the moment too,” the publish continued.
Marking 50 years of diplomatic relations between the 2 nations, New Zealand and Vietnam signed a complete strategic partnership final week, focussing on training and defence.
College students from Vietnam attending our colleges and universities provides over $88 million to our economic system
Christopher Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister
Whereas highlighting that roughly 1,700 Vietnamese college students at present examine in New Zealand, Luxon introduced the enlargement of scholarship applications, awards, new programs, and different transnational training alternatives for college students and universities in Vietnam, as per Vietnamese media stories.
New Zealand has launched a 56% rise within the variety of awards for Vietnamese college students, who can now examine at any of the nation’s eight public universities or three public institutes of expertise as scholarship recipients.
This 12 months, the New Zealand Faculties Scholarships for Vietnamese college students in grades 8-10 will supply a file 45 awards. The scholarship is geared toward excellent highschool college students searching for to review at secondary colleges in New Zealand.
Furthermore, for the primary time, 14 New Zealand College Awards might be supplied to undergraduate college students.
Such initiatives could be useful for New Zealand establishments, which see Vietnamese college students as enjoying a significant function in enriching their worldwide neighborhood.
“Southeast Asia is a vital worldwide marketplace for the College of Auckland, the place we proceed to reinforce our worldwide recruitment and engagement efforts,” a spokesperson from the College of Auckland’s worldwide workplace instructed The PIE Information.
“We’re happy to proceed to welcome a gentle stream of Vietnamese college students on campus who we all know are extremely motivated by the potential for profession alternatives post-graduation.”
With Southeast Asia a key recruitment marketplace for establishments just like the College of Auckland, New Zealand’s lately introduced initiatives with Vietnam may assist keep the regular move of worldwide college students.
“Because the College of Auckland’s eighth-largest supply nation, Vietnam constantly sends a gentle stream of each undergraduate and postgraduate college students annually,” said the spokesperson.
“Probably the most sought-after programs amongst Vietnamese college students are enterprise, science, and engineering, which give strong profession alternatives in New Zealand and globally.”
With New Zealand additionally creating key fields reminiscent of STEM, economics, drugs, and synthetic intelligence, which align with Vietnam’s priorities, the nations’ academic establishments are additionally stepping as much as work collectively.
Throughout his go to to the Overseas Commerce College, a public establishment in Hanoi, Luxon facilitated MOUs between New Zealand and Vietnamese universities.
Amongst these initiatives, an MOU between Massey College and Overseas Commerce College goals to launch a twin grasp’s diploma program on the latter’s campuses.
This program will permit contributors to earn levels from each universities upon finishing their research at FTU.
Based on Arunima Dhingra, chief government and founding father of Auckland-based Goals World Immigration, the Prime Minister’s go to to Vietnam comes at an important time when the nation’s untapped potential must be harnessed.
“In 2024, slightly below 900 scholar visas had been granted to Vietnamese nationals, with a 79% approval fee. This approval fee remained regular in 2023, when 670 purposes had been obtained – almost double the 351 purposes processed in 2022, which had an 83% approval fee,” said Dhingra.
“The upward trajectory indicators rising curiosity and confidence in New Zealand as a examine vacation spot.”
Although the nation’s rising popularity in Vietnam as a high-quality training supplier, together with beneficial post-study work pathways, and supportive insurance policies for relations, amongst different elements, have helped Vietnamese college students make a beeline for Aotearoa, there’s nonetheless a variety of work to be finished, in response to Dhingra.
“Vietnam’s outbound scholar market stays closely engaged with different main locations reminiscent of Australia and Canada. For New Zealand to stay aggressive, higher outreach, focused advertising, and robust institutional partnerships might be key in sustaining and increasing this progress.”
Furthermore, as college students from nations like India and China more and more discover different locations, diversifying into markets reminiscent of Southeast Asia and Vietnam requires New Zealand to determine and tackle the limitations confronted by college students from the area.
“Many undergraduate college students from Vietnam should full English programs earlier than beginning their most important research, so New Zealand should guarantee its pathway applications stay aggressive in price, length, and visa flexibility to retain college students,” said Dhingra.
“Moreover, monetary proof necessities and visa processing challenges – particularly for college students from non-traditional or rural areas – could make different locations with easier processes extra interesting.”
Since Covid pandemic, NZ has emerged as probably the most sought-after examine locations.
Whereas a survey final 12 months indicated that potential college students are more and more contemplating New Zealand, the US, and Germany amid coverage shifts in different main locations, knowledge from the New Zealand authorities revealed a 24% year-on-year improve in worldwide enrolments.
