New Zealand Education Representatives in India replace disbanded program

In India, New Zealand education representatives consist of members who are trusted, tested, qualified, and established organizations encouraging Education in New Zealand for years.

This announcement was made months after Education NZ declared that it would disband its Recognised Agencies Program with some patrons telling it was not fit for purpose.

It’s been 25 years since ENZRA worked together with Education NZ and Immigration NZ. The former agents of ENZRA have joined hands together in launching a new group having four aims:

Firstly, the organization that has education counsellors and advisors in India will only work to promote New Zealand as the most popular study destination for pursuing International education.

The new group right from the beginning has taken the pledge to protect students’ interests, right from offering initial counselling to post-landing that includes students’ pastoral care and settlement assistance.

NZERI is trying to uphold the system's integrity by setting as well and following the professional code of conduct, and the highest standards of ethics, transparency, and honesty. New and existing members have to conform to the NZERI code of conduct.

Finally, closely collaborating with Immigration NZ, NZERI wants to be recognized as the primary facilitator and wants to be the most trusted bridge between India and New Zealand in the realm of International education.

According to NZERI, the previous ENZRA program worked great for the Indian sub-continent market but didn’t work so well in other countries.

A vacuum was created in the market with the close of the ENZRA program, ENZ India could not continue with the program for India-specific agents, where it is essential to have a unified platform for boosting New Zealand Education exports and student exchange programs.

The first president of NZERI is Liz Batra of the IGEC agency which has offices in Pune, Chandigarh, and New Zealand. Sandeep Jani will be the Vice President, the General Secretary will be Munish Sekhri and the Treasurer will be Kshitij Garg. Ravi Lochan Singh from Global Reach is on the executive board and he will share his experience with AAERI as NZERI is formed.

INZ and ENZ have been invited as the permanent honorary members. NZERI claims that they are not a policing organization or an industry watchdog. It was on 12th February, that NZERI was officially launched in New Delhi with the visit of the New Zealand High Commission by the leadership team to meet New Zealand High Commissioner David Pine to India.

NZERI is here to collaborate with all existing and upcoming education advisers to join hands together and re-train themselves to serve the stakeholders with their best abilities and to create new and higher standards for the education industry. NZERI would like the industry to refer them not as agents but as advisers. The body wants to work with ICEF, Immigration Advisers Authority, ENZ, and INZ to create certification and training programs for members and their staff upskilling. It will also urge the government to address issues like long visa processing time, rationalizing funds requirements, and inconsistent decisions.

NZERI wants New Zealand’s education export sector to grow sustainably by attracting high-value students. The vetted NZERI members will continue to support the growth under the energetic and new government leadership in New Zealand.