BY LIANE VOISEY
Were you one of the people who applied for this job and wondered who got it?
Job title: Chief executive, Education New Zealand
Robert Stevens spent a lot of time developing the education export industry on both sides of the Tasman before accepting his latest challenge.
As chief executive at Education
New Zealand Trust - which helps to develop international education within New Zealand - he is looking forward to assuming a leadership role in an "exciting and dynamic industry".
The job has also given him an opportunity to return home - he graduated with a bachelor of science from Victoria University in the mid-1980s and a master of public policy from Victoria University and the Australian National University in 2002.
Having been involved at senior levels in the education export industry since 1995, Stevens says he has a good understanding of the strategic and practical issues the trust faces. One of those is the increase in other countries providing education for international students and how New Zealand can compete with that.
Previously, Stevens worked in Canberra as director of the Australian Federal Department of Education, Science and Training's International Group and as one of the directors of Australia Education International - the Australian Government's international education network.
Before moving to Australia, Stevens worked for five years as the international manager of New Zealand's Ministry of Education, responsible for all aspects of the Ministry's formal international engagements.
As New Zealand is "one of the smaller players in the international student market" - it has only about 0.5 per cent of the world's international students - the trust, he says, needs to work co-operatively with the industry to increase the impact of its activities and develop an industry-wide approach.
Stevens hopes in the end to help make a "positive contribution to New Zealand's long-term international competitiveness" in education. He looks forward to working as an "effective industry advocate", informing policy makers of the impact of Government policy and of the direction of the industry.
