Background & context
As New Zealand’s 4th largest export earner, evolving what and how the international education sector delivers its products is strategically critical for New Zealand’s economy.
Education New Zealand, New Zealand Government’s export focussed organisation, created a sector wide Innovation Fund to explore next-gen products and delivery modes with support from New Zealand Treasury. The fund would enable successful applicants to develop and validate new international education products and delivery methods to help meet predicated skill demand. Products would provide international learners with pathways that connect ‘career’ and ‘cause’ in alignment with their values, while accommodating increasingly diverse learning preferences moving away from the conventional, physical degree paradigm.
Fund applicants were required to submit proposals under one of several themed shifts. Our team focussed on demonstrating how the education sector could move from generalised learning to a cause-based paradigm. Globally, we knew that more people were searching for a career cause or industry they were passionate about, but found it challenging to identify learning pathways that met this need. We also knew that learners were (and still are) seeking purpose first and career second, leading us to recognise an opportunity to create an education pathway product that could meet these cause-based needs.