Staff Reporter
Auckland, September 20, 2020
(Image from ENZ Website)
Education New Zealand (ENZ) will waive the requirements for agencies that already part of its Recognised Agency Programme this year to acknowledge the impacts of Covid-19.
Relaunched in 2018, the Education New Zealand Recognised Agent (ENZRA) Programme focuses on identifying and engaging with proven, committed and ethical education agencies.
Education agents must meet three core objectives on a yearly basis to gain or retain Recognised Agency Status at ENZ.
Three Core Standards
The three core standards are (1) Meeting a points-target and minimum visa approval rate (2) Meeting core conduct requirements and (3) Undertaking training as required
Agencies have largely not been able to place students with education providers in New Zealand since borders in New Zealand and many other countries are closed.
As a result, ENZ has decided not to open applications for the ENZ Recognised Agency Programme in 2020. The next round of applications to the Programme will open in early 2022.
ENZ Manager Education Agents, Geneviève Rousseau Cung said that all current Recognised Agencies will remain in the ENZ Recognised Agency Programme until February 2022 as long as they (a) sign an updated agreement (b) remain a viable business (c) meet conduct requirements.
“We understand that education agencies have been hugely impacted by their inability to place new students with education providers in New Zealand. We hope this provides some certainty to the agent community during these times,” she said.
Importance of agents
Quality education agencies who continue to be highly engaged in the New Zealand education proposition remain important to the recovery of the international education sector in New Zealand, Ms Cung said.
Agents have also played an instrumental role in supporting students already in New Zealand and their families during Covid-19, she said.
“We are aware that many students would turn first to their agents for information and support, ahead of their study provider. We will continue to communicate with our agent community on ENZ’s AgentLab platform and share updates regarding the Recognised Agency programme,” Ms Cung said.
