On Monday 29 November, the Prime Minister announced which settings of the COVID-19 Protection Framework the country’s regions will move to at 11:59pm, Thursday 2 December. The following areas will be at the Red setting: Northland, Auckland, Taupō and Rotorua Lakes Districts, Kawerau, Whakatāne, Ōpōtiki Districts, Gisborne District, Wairoa District, Rangitīkei, Whanganui and Ruapehu Districts. The rest of the North Island (including Waikato) and the whole of the South Island will be at the Orange setting.  Cabinet will next review these settings on Monday 13 December. 

The COVID-19 Public Health Response (Protection Framework) Order 2021 and COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Amendment Order (No 6) 2021 are now available and will come into force at 11.59pm, Thursday 2 December.

There have been some queries about the requirements for tertiary providers at Red.   

At Red, action is needed to protect at-risk people and protect our health system from an unsustainable number of hospitalisations. The settings in place for the tertiary education sector at Red are intended to facilitate providers being open for onsite teaching, learning, research and more, while appropriately managing public health risk to keep everyone safe. At this stage, this means the following public health measures must be in place:

• vaccination requirements (unless an exemption applies) for everyone onsite
• capacity limits based on 1m distancing
• face coverings for everyone indoors.

The vaccination requirement does not apply to:

• basic needs services where access cannot be denied on the basis of vaccination status (e.g. health and disability services, licensed early childhood services and registered schools, dairies, pharmacies, supermarkets), and
• secondary students accessing a tertiary education premises as part of their secondary-tertiary or school learning programme, and
• individuals who have obtained a temporary medical exemption through the Ministry of Health:

The preliminary CPF guidance for tertiary providers advised that student and staff travel would follow the general COVID-19 Protection Framework rules. There is now information on travel available on the Unite Against COVID-19 website: 

Preliminary guidance currently states that the COVID-19 Protection Framework encourages staff to work from home where possible. However, some workplaces can operate safely at Red and, where this is possible, there may be benefits from having staff in the workplace.

At Red, workplaces can be open. However, tertiary providers should ensure adequate measures are in place to operate safely as determined by a health and safety risk assessment. This may include greater use of working from home for some staff, where the risk assessment indicates that may be necessary. This clarification will be included in the updated guidance next week.

The preliminary CPF guidance noted that events and gatherings that are not directly education-related would need to follow the general guidance for events and gatherings in the CPF. Some providers have sought clarification on whether educational orientation events would fall in the CPF.

Activities that are part of a teaching and learning programme (e.g. a library or orientation tours for enrolled students) should follow the general Tertiary teaching and learning guidance. However, we would expect that an event that is not part of a teaching and learning programme (e.g. an O-Week party, an open day for the public, or a conference with visitors) would need to follow the events guidance, including attendee limits.  

The Government has decided to suspend the Export Education Levy for the 2022 calendar year.  

This decision was informed by feedback received through the consultation process which closed on 22 September 2021. We appreciate the time and effort respondents put into the consultation and note that your responses were overwhelmingly in favour of suspending the levy. 

The levy was suspended for the 2020 and 2021 calendar years in recognition of the significant and unprecedented financial hardship being faced by the international education sector due to COVID-19 and the global pandemic. The 2022 suspension recognises the continued financial pressure on the international education sector.  

The Government will work with the International Education sector to introduce appropriate settings for 2023. In the meantime, services funded by the levy will be met by other revenue streams and matching service provision to sector and student needs. More information is available on the Ministry of Education website. 

Next week Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao is running two webinars to support students over summer. ENZ would appreciate you sharing this information with your students please. 

On Wednesday 8 December, 12-1pm, Careers practitioner Andrew Tui will provide practical advice on how students can use the summer to build both professional and personal skills.  There is much that students can do to better prepare for the future and Andrew will share his advice and insights.

On Thursday 9 December, 12-1pm, Constable Vipin Zinta from the New Zealand Police will share information on safety, wellbeing, travelling and the COVID-19 Protection Framework (the traffic light system). Vipin will share practical advice with students to help them have a safe and enjoyable summer.

If you have been unable to get your vaccine pass online through My COVID Record, options are in place to receive your My Vaccine Pass through the post, by calling 0800 222 478, or from one of the 400 pharmacies that are currently providing COVID-19 vaccinations.

Booster doses are available free for anyone in New Zealand aged 18 years or older, who has completed their two-dose course more than 6-months ago. From today, bookings are also available for the AstraZeneca vaccine. More information can be found on the Unite against COVID-19 website.

A central mailbox has been set-up for all tertiary and international queries to the Ministry of Education that are related to COVID-19. This email address has been introduced to ensure there is a central point of contact that can be monitored. All future bulletins will be sent from this email address and the Ministry will continue to meet with the sector regularly.