The New Zealand Government helps the international education sector on post-pandemic recovery
The New Zealand Government has announced changes to help the International Education sector which has been seriously affected by the Covid-19 pandemic
The Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, announced that the government will make amendments to the Education and Training Bill to help the international education sector’s recovery from COVID-19 and respond to future emergencies. The main changes include:
- Waiving the Export Education Levy imposed on education providers for 2020 and 2021 to reduce their financial burden.
- Postponement of the implementation of the Code of Practice for the pastoral care for domestic tertiary students, which was planned to be implemented during the period 1 January 2021 to 1 January 2022. The current interim Code of Practice for domestic students will be in place until the 1 January 2022.
- Temporarily allow state and state-integrated schools to offer distance learning, including NCEA, to students based off-shore, on a case-by-case basis.
- Enabling the Minister of Education to vary a tertiary funding determination, without a three-month stand-down period, in response to an epidemic or emergency.
- Providing a new set of powers for the Secretary when a state of emergency, epidemic notice, or national transition period for recovery is in place.
For more information, please refer to the government and Ministry of Education website.