President’s Welcome

President’s Welcome

 
Please read! Special Offer Announced at the End!

 

Welcome everyone to the final NZ Chapter eNews of 2023. I’d like to say thank you to everyone who attended the recent online AGM meeting on 17 October 2023, where our NZ Chapter Executive Committee of volunteers was elected for the upcoming year. 

I am honoured to be serving as your new President of the NZ Chapter. Thank you for putting your trust in me. 😊 I will do my best to carry on the great work that has been done by all our past Presidents. Please see in the next section an overview of the new Executive Committee with a farewell to outgoing volunteers and a warm welcome to our new team. 

I myself have only been a member of Educate Plus (EP) for the past three years, and I highly value my membership, because truth be told, it makes me feel not so alone in the oftentimes lonely work we do in our organisations. So many of us are in ‘small shop’ operations or one-man-bands, sometimes with leaders who don’t quite know or understand what we do. Those lucky enough to work in larger departments may still feel a bit isolated, especially in our small country of Aotearoa New Zealand. 

However, being a member of EP reminds me that there is much more out there. I should know this, because as some of you know, I recently spent over 16 years living overseas and 12 of those were working in international schools doing Educational Advancement. And that is why, I feel so lucky to have EP at my side as the channel that links us to each other across Aotearoa and provides resources, support, best practice and learning from the world beyond our school or university gates. It reminds me that I am not alone. We are not alone! 

In fact, we are an EP team of nearly 200 members in New Zealand and over 2300 members across the organisation! That’s fantastic! So I urge you to celebrate as I do, that you are members of EP! And feel glad that we can learn from each other, share ideas, and enjoy being part of a community of Educational Advancement professionals ‘down-under’…yes, we are professionals and belonging to this membership helps me and others realise this too! EP itself is in a growth and expansion mode and it is an exciting time for all of us to be involved in this organisation. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our valued supporters, our NZ Chapter Partners, who have been at our side for the past two years (and some even longer):

Without them, we couldn’t do what we do for you as members, and so please take a look at the Valued Partners section for their End of Year messages. (There may be a few special offers in there for you too… so don’t miss those!)

There are many exciting things to look forward to in 2024 with Educate Plus. Your new Executive Committee is working towards implementing some new-styled networking and professional learning events for our members, especially since there is no NZ Summit (next one will be in 2025). Throughout the year, we want to organise some half-day learning workshops, similar to the pre-Summit ones, host Special Interest Group (SIGs) meetings in cafes on certain topics like Alumni Relations, Archiving, Admissions etc, run a hot topic Webinar and continue to hold regional networking events held at member institutions or special venues. And, of course, there is the almighty EP International Conference taking place in glorious Perth in September. Please do take a look at the NZ Events, Upcoming Events and Upcoming Training sections to read about all the good stuff coming up (and keep watching out for updates throughout the year).

Lastly, I want to let you know of a special ‘End of Year’ Member offer to apply for one of several Professional Development Scholarships. All our NZ members can apply for these, for the following:

These PD Scholarships are valued at up to $750 pp (for Brisbane) or up to $2,000 pp (for Perth) and will be awarded on a first come first serve basis and on fulfilling the application criteria. In most cases, they can be combined with Head Office travel grants as well. Take a look at the Professional Development Scholarships section in this eNews to apply. Don’t delay. Get your application in ASAP (by the latest, 19 December), as we must award this round of Scholarships before 31 December! 

There you have it. So much to look forward to. So much to be involved with. So much collaborative support from each other as a collective… and that really is the key. The more you engage with us, the more you will feel part of our wonderful community of NZ Advancement Professionals and the more you’ll truly benefit from your membership! 

I wish you, your work teams, your friends and your families a very merry festive season and Happy New Year. Hope to see many of you in 2024 getting involved and loving it. 😀

Kia kaha e te whānau.

Emma Zigan
NZ Chapter President | Educate Plus

Director of Advancement
Dilworth School