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Training and Accreditation process overview
For an Agent to gain and retain NZSA membership, it must:
1. Meet stipulated NZSA Membership Criteria;
2. Have appropriate Agent personnel attend a formal training workshop organised by ENZ in their country and have all participating personnel pass the workshop test
3. Pass stipulated reference checks;
4. Sign (by the Agent owner) and adhere to the NZSA Code of Conduct;
5. Undertake a formal renewal of membership every two years, which involves meeting stipulated NZSA membership renewal criteria.
Training eligibility
An Agent will be eligible to enrol one or more personnel on an NZSA training workshop when it meets the following criteria:
• Provide three NZ education institution references, where at least one of the references is from a New Zealand government funded tertiary institution. Each referee must be from the institution’s international office and have worked directly with the Agent. Please note that if all three references have not been received by ENZ within 3 months after the training workshop, the agency will automatically be considered as not having met the criteria, even if its personnel passed the training workshop test.
• Have sent collectively at least five students to its reference institutions and at least 1 student to each of those reference institutions; and actively worked with all of them over the 12 months prior to the training workshop.
• Nominate one or more Agent personnel to undertake the NZSA training, where at least one of them is a very senior manager or owner of the Agent.
• Have a dedicated office from which to run its business. i.e. a room in a private home would not be acceptable.
• Be committed to adhering to all aspects of the NZSA Code of Conduct, including actively promoting New Zealand as a destination to their prospective students.
It is intended that accredited agents attend a refresher course only at the time of accreditation renewal and not during the two year validity period. If an accredited agent does wish to send trained personnel for a refresher, or new personnel to NZSA training during the two years, a fee of $75 + GST per attendee will be applicable.
A fee of $100 + GST will be applicable to individuals who are not currently employed by an accredited agent and wish to attend an NZSA training workshop, but do not intend, or are unable, to gain agent accreditation.
Training process
Invitation:
When a NZSA training course is scheduled in a country, the agents in that country known to Education New Zealand and government agencies will receive an invitation to register, by a specified date, for a one day certification course. Details about the timing and venue for the course will be provided, plus a website link to an on-line course registration page.
Registration:
Agents who wish to take up the invitation must register by the specified date, on-line, following the link provided in the invitation.
Registrants must provide their own full contact details and at least 3 (and preferably 5) New Zealand education industry referees (name of referee, institution, email address). Agents should ensure that their New Zealand based referees have received students from them within the preceeding 2 years.
The agency is able to nominate up to 2 people to undertake New Zealand Specialist training. At least one of the two is expected to be a Senior staff member or Agency director.
Pre-course information:
All registrants are encouraged to take time to read the New Zealand Information for Agents. This forms the basis of the NZSA training course. There is a lot of information for course participants to take in on the day, so becoming familiar with the information prior to attending the course can certainly prove advantageous to participants – improving knowledge retention and ability to pass the assessment at the conclusion of the course.
On the day:
The NZSA training course is a full day programme. A series of presentations (mostly delivered in English) and interactive discussions are used to cover the course contents. Presentations are punctuated by morning tea and lunch, concluding mid-afternoon.
A one hour multiple choice course assessment follows afternoon tea, concluding with refreshments, and a chance to network.
On completion of the multiple choice assessment, participants are required to sign a declaration of adherence to the NZSA code of conduct. This is attached to the multiple choice questionnaire.
All participants receive a quality course content booklet for use as a reference resource and as a client presentation tool.
Accreditation
NZSA membership, normally valid for two years, will be recognised by the issuance of a branded Accreditation Certificate, with individual owners, managers and counsellors from the Agent who attend and pass the multiple choice workshop test receiving a Participation Certificate. Membership will be granted to an Agent and its same country branches only (but not other country branches, subagents or franchises) when:
• Each of its personnel attending the training workshop has successfully passed the test. A pass is awarded to scores of 75% or higher.
• The Agent’s owner has signed the NZSA Declaration.
• ENZ has received all 3 NZ education institution references, using the prescribed template, and deemed that they are satisfactory.
• A fee of NZ$300 + GST, covering up to 2 Agent personnel, has been paid. Please note that a NZ$50 + GST fee will also be charged for each additional Agent member beyond 2 personnel at the training workshop.
For further details on NZSA membership contact Ms Prabha Ravi at
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