03/04/2009 | Newsletter, Masters and PhD

View from the Top: Mr Robert Stevens, CEO of Education New Zealand.

By: Tim Rogers

With the continued diversification of student grad school destinations in recent years, only one country has invested their resources so wisely that steady growth in international student numbers is now being rewarded with a growing reputation for quality grad school education, affordable costs, a safe environment in which to live and the opportunity to migrate on a more permanent basis on graduation. That country is New Zealand and the Chief Executive Officer of Education New Zealand, Mr Robert Stevens, speaks to View from the Top this month.

Things have moved on somewhat from Mark Twain’s day when, in 1897, he made the claim, “If it would not look too much like showing off, I would tell the reader where New Zealand is”. For one thing, in 2009, it is estimated that approaching 100,000 international students have not only located to New Zealand, but also placed the country firmly on the map by deciding to study there. Partly due to the successful www.newzealandeducated.com campaign, students are beginning to recognize the considerable benefits of studying in New Zealand. However, of this number, only ten per cent are currently enrolled in New Zealand’s grad schools - although this number is likely to rise dramatically over the coming years.

At the head of the mission to bring more international grad students to New Zealand is Robert – or Rob as he is known to colleagues – Stevens, Chief Executive Officer of Education New Zealand, the organization that coordinates the promotion of the country’s education system overseas with the support of the institutions themselves. Rob, an international student himself when he moved from his bachelors degree at Victoria University of Wellington to his Masters in Public Policy at Australian National University, has been at the helm of Education New Zealand since 2003. In his time in charge, the number of international students choosing New Zealand as a study destination has steadily risen with the higher profile the country’s universities and other education providers have achieved.

“New Zealand is a world leader in what we call export education, but we have not reached our full capacity or potential."

Stevens believes that the future is particularly bright for the country’s education sector, based on its past record and intentions for the future: “New Zealand is a world leader in what we call export education, but we have not reached our full capacity or potential. With continued investment in the promotion of New Zealand as an education provider and a cross-sector commitment to providing educational services to international students, the industry is well-placed to create more opportunities for all concerned.”

New Zealand’s universities are leading the way in promoting their Masters and PhD programs to international students, particularly to those located in Asia. New Zealand was amongst the first countries to recognize the importance of encouraging Chinese students to pursue their studies abroad and have continued to implement a policy of open doors when other countries have placed more barriers in the way of student immigration. Focusing on what is, in effect due to the location of New Zealand, their local “market”, Stevens believes that the attitude of Asian students and their parents is particularly important to the rise in popularity of New Zealand as a study destination: "While discretionary spending is going down around the world, many parents in countries where there are educational infrastructure shortages, such as India and China, would not consider sending their children to a good university as 'discretionary' as they could have been saving up for this since the children were born, and they're unlikely to be dissuaded from it even if it requires other sacrifices."

With only eight universities in the country, the academic teaching and research quality of graduate programs is particularly well managed in New Zealand, with strong national and local procedures guaranteeing the high standards of graduate education, international students have come to expect. In recent years, many of the country’s universities have been commended for the quality of their student experience from both an academic and pastoral point of view, leading to what Stevens calls an unprecedented level of international student satisfaction: “Ongoing efforts by New Zealand’s educators to provide excellent education and student support continue to pay off. We have arguably the world’s most stringent legislative requirements around the care of international students. A complaint rate of 0.08 per cent – of which only a quarter will be found to require further action – is just outstanding for any service industry and I am confident that we would be seen to be world leaders if other countries actually had these sorts of systems and reports to compare.”