News

New Zealand

  • Vocational Pathways provide options for school students as published by NZQA (25th September 2011)
    NZQA in its QA September addition published that work has begun to develop five initial vocational pathways as a bridge to industry training, further study and employment.

    "The vocational pathways will open up new possibilities for students and provide a clearer route to a wide range of jobs and careers. Students will be able to see how what they are learning relates to what they will need to succeed in the workforce, and have clearly defined choices about how they get to where they want to go. The pathways will indicate the sorts of standards students should choose, the standards they need to achieve and the sorts of jobs and occupations they can aspire to," says Ministry of Education Group Manager Dr Andrea Schollmann.
  • More Indian students enticed to New Zealand (22nd September 2011)
    Immigration packages under a Government initiative are being used to entice more students from India to study at New Zealand tertiary institutions. Indian students are being offered a nine-month extension to their student visa after graduation to allow them to find a job and apply for a work permit.

    Representatives from tertiary education institutions around the country, including Victoria, participated in a six-day fair in India last to last week in an attempt to promote the initiative. Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) Rob Rabel said: "Like all universities around New Zealand, Victoria University is looking at attracting more students from India,".
  • New Zealand Immigration Rules Tightened for International Students (30th July 2011)
    The New Zealand Government will be implementing policy changes affecting international student and the Skilled Migrant Category for Residence Applications starting from 25th July 2011 & 2 April 2012. The changes are aimed at attracting more genuine international students.

    The Key changes to International Students are:
    • Work Visas will be available for the partners of students studying postgraduate courses and courses on the Long Term Skills Shortage List (LTSSL) at bachelor's degree and above, rather than any students studying courses on the LTSSL
    • Students will need to study in New Zealand for at least two years to qualify for Study to Work Visas, with a shorter period required for people who have gained postgraduate qualifications or credit-transferred bachelor's degrees - From 2 April 2012
    • Student who obtained a second, higher qualification at bachelor's degree or postgraduate level will be able to obtain a second Graduate Job Search visa