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Speaker 1: A little bit of hope around the international student speaking

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Speaker 1: of which is the number now back up to sixty

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Speaker 1: seven percent, sixty seven percent up on last year. We're

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Speaker 1: still only at sixty percent of the pre pandemic enrollments.

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Speaker 1: General Manager of Marketing and Comms for Education New Zealand

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Speaker 1: Jeff Bilbers with us. Jeff, very good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Mike shurned me on.

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Speaker 1: As you look at the numbers at sixty percent, do

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Speaker 1: you worry? Do you think I wish we were better?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Well, we could always do better, and clearly there's

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Speaker 2: more to do. But you know, we've only had one

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Speaker 2: four academic year since the borders opened and we've got

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Speaker 2: nearly well fix sixty nine thousand enrollment. Yeah, I'm pretty

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Speaker 2: happy with that. It's got us back to a good chunk,

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Speaker 2: particularly in the university sector where there nearly back to

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Speaker 2: eighty six percent of twenty nineteen. So we've had some

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Speaker 2: good growth in some areas. But yeah, clearly there's more

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Speaker 2: to do. And picking up on the tomatoes story, it's

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Speaker 2: good news for the economy to have international students back

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Speaker 2: in the country.

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Speaker 1: That is true. Why aren't we one hundred percent well?

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Speaker 2: Intial education it's not like hopping on a place and

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Speaker 2: coming for a holiday. With all due respect to my

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Speaker 2: friends at tourism, it's a decision that takes some time. It's,

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Speaker 2: as someone once said to me, is a decision around

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Speaker 2: the two most important things in people's lives, their children

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Speaker 2: and their money. So it takes some time for them

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Speaker 2: to do their research. These decisions take over two or

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Speaker 2: three years, so it takes some time. Our borders were

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Speaker 2: closed for a while and our competitors were open a

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Speaker 2: little bit earlier, but we had bounced that really well,

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Speaker 2: and I'm really optimistic about the future. I think the

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Speaker 2: experience that we give these students, the research shows that

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Speaker 2: they it's meeting their expectations and that they're willing to

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Speaker 2: go home and tell their family and friends that they

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Speaker 2: had a good time. So I think that's all good.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. Although I look to Australia, they're back

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Speaker 1: at one hundred. They've got so many that they've got

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Speaker 1: a problem. They've changed the visa requirements because they've been

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Speaker 1: literally flooded with international students. What are they doing that

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Speaker 1: we're not.

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Speaker 2: So immediately after and towards the end of the pandemic,

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Speaker 2: Australia and Canada both had made a decision to loose

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Speaker 2: in the settings for interdential students. And what you talked

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Speaker 2: about is the flood that they received and that's caused

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Speaker 2: them problems, and the student experience has been poor in

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Speaker 2: some of those markets, and Canada in particular had very

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Speaker 2: poor student experience and lost the public perception towards international

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Speaker 2: education was also damaged, I think as part of that.

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Speaker 2: So they've really had to change their settings, and frankly,

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Speaker 2: their settings look a lot more like ours now. And

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Speaker 2: so our approach has been much more managed, much steadier

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Speaker 2: and consistent growth, and I think that's been to our

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Speaker 2: advantage really reputationally.

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Speaker 1: Are we damaged or not?

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Speaker 2: No, I don't think so. And I think the fact

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Speaker 2: that we've got sixty nine thousand enrollments suggests that our enrollment,

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Speaker 2: our reputation is a good place to study, a safe environment,

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Speaker 2: a quality education, and something that offers both education and

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Speaker 2: an experience alongside educator quality education. I think our reputation

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Speaker 2: is intact.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad to hear it. Jeff, go well with up Bill.

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Speaker 1: The sooner we get back to the way we used

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Speaker 1: to be. The better education New Zealand, general manager of

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Speaker 1: Marketing and Communications. For more from the mic Asking Breakfast,

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Speaker 1: listen live to news Talks at B from six am weekdays,

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