In her exclusive article appearing under Educationlink, Dr Pushpa Wood, an Education and Research Consultant, has voiced the concerns of growing number of New Zealanders. Her observations are in fact reflections of the members of the community and hence should be considered as topics for discussion and not for summary rejection.
Education is a fast growing sector in New Zealand, with schools, colleges, universities, tertiary institutions, training institutes and other private education providers offering an ever-increasing range of courses and programmes.
In addition, Export Education is a major area of growth, with India promising brighter prospects in the immediate future. The Government has set an ambitious target of doubling its earnings from export education, to $10 billion by 2020.
Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce is upbeat about India, and his enthusiasm is shared by tertiary education providers and lately by Education New Zealand.
Immigration New Zealand is promising to process student visa applications faster, in a bid to attract more international students from India.
Australian ambition
Over the years, we have seen thousands of students from India arriving here, not just for pursuing their higher education but also to land on a job and settle here as permanent residents and become citizens. Many of them have the ulterior motive of moving across to Australia – a benefit that their New Zealand passport brings with it.
While export education is a profitable enterprise, providing thousands of jobs for people here, the increasing number of international students competing for jobs with nationals and other permanent residents has become an issue of concern.
Many New Zealanders have begun to feel that students, with their ability to be flexible and accept lower salaries, have depressed the income levels, creating socio-economic problems. The rising number of work permits issued to students is also a matter of concern, according to some people.
Growing hostility
Hostility to immigrants is rising all over Europe, but opinion polls suggest it is worse in Britain than in any other rich country. David Cameron’s government came to power promising to cut net migration to “tens of thousands” by the next election. This was not only wrong, in terms of both Britain’s obligations and its economic needs, but also impractical, since last year the number was 216,000. Since many immigrants are entitled to entry, because, for instance, they come from the European Union, turning away students, who account for about 40% of the total, is the only way of cutting numbers significantly.
Export education is good- for businesses, educational institutions and the economy. But a system has to be in place to ensure that incoming students, welcome as they are, do not upset the applecart, and bring down the standard of living, which is easily achieved by unfair competition.
