Attracting overseas students

Anne Young is Education Tauranga's new regional manager.

Attracting 15 per cent more international students to study in Tauranga in three years won't be easy, but Anne Young is confident she can achieve it.

Education Tauranga, a group of education providers marketing Tauranga as a destination for international students, has hired Mrs Young as its new regional manager after funding was granted for the position in September by national body Education New Zealand.

The Government has set a target of doubling the economic value of international education to $5 billion over the next 15 years. As part of this drive, Education Tauranga aimed to increase international student numbers by 15 per cent by 2017.

There were about 700 international students in Tauranga bringing $52 million to the local economy annually.

Mrs Young will begin her new role, based at Priority One, in February.

She brings with her 15 years of experience in international education and a passion for Tauranga.

"I've worked in the international education sector pretty much since I left university in the mid 90s. I've worked in New Zealand and London at tertiary institutions. I grew up in Tauranga so I always wanted to come back home. I've got kids so it's a nice place to bring them up."

After finishing at Tauranga Girls' College, Mrs Young studied Japanese and Chinese international relationships at Victoria University.

Mrs Young has worked at Victoria, Imperial College London and University of London; she has taught English in Japan and has worked for a provider bringing students to New Zealand from Japan. For the past 18 months, she has been the international manager at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.

"My role in Tauranga is to help schools grow their strategies to help increase our growth and increase the value to our region."

Mrs Young said she would be looking at markets that supplied international students to Tauranga and forming relationships with agencies in those countries to market Tauranga as a "centre of educational excellence".

"China is obviously the biggest market for international students in New Zealand, but not here in Tauranga. We get most of our students from Saudi Arabia.

"We will be looking for funding opportunities to increase international students coming to Tauranga.

"The top markets are China, India, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Japan."