Student exchange approvals
Application forms for approval of any new student exchange programmes.
International student exchange approvals are undertaken by the Ministry of Education.
Applications for approval should be sent to the Ministry of Education using the application forms in the related downloads section at the bottom of this page:
For tertiary exchanges
The Ministry of Education and Immigration New Zealand registers one exchange scheme for each institution, rather than each partnership.
For example, there would be one ‘Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) Exchange Scheme’, as opposed to each of VUW’s partnerships being approved individually.
This means that institutions are not required to send new/amended/terminated exchange agreements to the Ministry for approval through the year. However, individual student visas are still subject to meeting immigration requirements.
To facilitate this process, institutions are required to provide an Annual Report to the Ministry by 31 March each year (for the previous calendar year), outlining the numbers of students by partner (inbound and outbound), and a list of any new or terminated agreements. A template for the Annual Report is available for download at the bottom of this page.
For compulsory schooling and exchange provider organisations
Use the 'School to School Exchange Student Application' form.
The process
The Ministry of Education will assess the application on all criteria and forward the application to Immigration New Zealand (INZ).
If the exchange agreement is approved, the Ministry will notify the applicant.
The Ministry then logs the scheme as Government approved in their records and notifies INZ to do the same. The Ministry will maintain a master list of all Government approved exchange programmes.
If the exchange agreement is not approved, the applicant will be advised by the Ministry along with the reasons for the application not being approved.