Wellington Chamber of Commerce
Media Statement
Monday 25th July 2016

Education agreement welcome boost, says Chamber

The signing of an education exchange agreement with Xiamen city in China is a welcome advance in helping boost Wellington’s share of the international education market, says Wellington Chamber of Commerce.

Chief Executive John Milford said the city council-led agreement should result in further students coming to Wellington to study.

“We have a world-class education offering and this will further expose it to the rapidly growing market in China.

“The quality of the scholarships offered by Victoria University and Whitireia and Weltec polytechnics will no doubt be in high demand, as will work by Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand.

“This is an example of a sister-city link actually working to best advantage, rather than being just a paper relationship.
“Cementing this type of agreement with a rapidly growing city of 3 million people is exactly what we need from our international relationships, but we need to keep it going.

“International students contribute more than $200 million a year to the local economy but our share and our growth continue to lag behind Auckland and Christchurch.

“While New Zealand’s international education industry grew by 13 per cent – some 14,700 enrolments – in 2015, Wellington’s grew by just 9 per cent. That’s an improvement in the growth rate on the previous year but it’s still well below the national rate, and that means we’re losing ground.

"We have one of the best and most diverse education offerings in New Zealand but our share of the market dropping.

“We need to continue to work hard using a planned and coordinated approach if we are to take advantage of the current growth in the sector.

"There needs to be a serious commitment by the city, education institutions, business and other stakeholders if we are to achieve that.”

ends

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