‘New Zealand to Woo Hong Kong’
Education New Zealand: Media Release 29/09/2004
Creating fresh enthusiasm for New Zealand education is the key objective behind a visit of four education agents from
Hong Kong next week. The four agents will spend a week in New Zealand, visiting institutions across the North Island.
Hong Kong, although part of China, has a number of different characteristics as a market, including a different domestic
education base and even language differences. For this reason, most institutions treat Hong Kong as an independent
market.
Hong Kong has been a significant market for New Zealand educators and in 2003 was worth nearly $33 million to our
economy. However, a combination of SARS and the general difficulties New Zealand institutions have had in the wider
Chinese market have all impacted on Hong Kong over the last 18 months, particularly in the English Language sector which
has seen a decline of around 50% in enrolments from Hong Kong.
Currently, there are around 1100 Hong Kong students studying in New Zealand. They are in all sectors, spread evenly
across Universities, private providers and schools. Schools bucked the overall trend of stagnant or declining numbers
and currently have around 20% more Hong Kong students enrolled than they did last year. This is good news for the
tertiary sector as well, as many Hong Kong students seek to go on and seek higher level in education in New Zealand at
the conclusion of their schooling.
Education New Zealand and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise run a joint marketing programme which includes
familiarisation trips by education agents from many of our key and developing markets. These trips enable agents to
experience New Zealand institutions first hand, and are vital in ensuring that agents have accurate information about
New Zealand and our education system. This first hand knowledge is invaluable in helping agents recommend New Zealand to
prospective students in a hyper-competitive global marketplace.
ENDS