International education strategy released for consultation: Should international students worry?
The government is inviting feedback and consultation on the new International Education Strategy.
Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Paul Goldsmith have today released the draft New Zealand International Education Strategy for consultation.
The draft strategy sets out the government’s proposed vision, goals and immediate priorities for international education through to 2025.
International education has grown rapidly to become New Zealand’s fourth biggest export earner, valued at $4.5 billion, creating around 33,000 jobs.
However, recently international education sector has come under a scanner and gained much public attention for all wrong reasons such as quality of education providers, student deportation, quality of students and the wider immigration debate.
The high pitch election debate around immigration issues is also not helping the cause of international students.
The opposition Labour Party has already announced a policy that seeks to purge international student numbers by around 22-25,000.
The major purge of the number of international student numbers happening in level 5-level 7 courses.
This was only after the present government had earlier announced changes in immigration rules whereby raising the bar for the pathway from international education to residency and effectively making it mandatory to secure a job with a salary of 49k to be able to be eligible for residency.
Following these announcements, there has already been a decline of 24 per cent in the number of Indian international students coming to New Zealand.
However, not much had been said publically by all major political parties of New Zealand about effectively managing international education providers in a manner that is beneficial to both international students and New Zealand economy.
The frequent calls of discouraging international students coming to New Zealand at the level 5 to level 7 courses, appears more an absence of will and desire to regulate the international education system rather than genuine intentions to reform the system.
In this regard, this opportunity to provide feedback on the government’s proposed international education strategy should be lapped up by all of those people who have any stake in the international education industry.
“The draft strategy aims to ensure New Zealand continues to benefit from international education through a high quality and sustainable international education sector,” Mr Goldsmith says.
The Government is keen to work with the sector to encourage the development of innovative products and services, and continue to diversify education markets and to support regional economic growth.
“This means that we need to ensure that unethical or illegal activity is prevented and that New Zealand education providers attract students who are motivated by the study. It also means that government regulators need to act swiftly to address quality issues and make student wellbeing a priority. Mr Goldsmith says.
The Government is now seeking feedback from education providers and others about how the proposed strategy aligns with their priorities.
“I look forward to hearing the views of the sector and the public on this draft strategy,” Mr Goldsmith says.
The draft strategy and information on the consultation process has been published on the Education New Zealand website HERE. The consultation will close on August 31 2017 and a final strategy is expected to be published later in the year.
The International Student Wellbeing Strategy launched earlier this month will be an important part of the finalised sector strategy. It can be found HERE.
The government is inviting feedback and consultation on the new International Education Strategy.
Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Paul Goldsmith have today released the draft New Zealand International Education Strategy for consultation.
The draft strategy sets out the...
The government is inviting feedback and consultation on the new International Education Strategy.
Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Paul Goldsmith have today released the draft New Zealand International Education Strategy for consultation.
The draft strategy sets out the government’s proposed vision, goals and immediate priorities for international education through to 2025.
International education has grown rapidly to become New Zealand’s fourth biggest export earner, valued at $4.5 billion, creating around 33,000 jobs.
However, recently international education sector has come under a scanner and gained much public attention for all wrong reasons such as quality of education providers, student deportation, quality of students and the wider immigration debate.
The high pitch election debate around immigration issues is also not helping the cause of international students.
The opposition Labour Party has already announced a policy that seeks to purge international student numbers by around 22-25,000.
The major purge of the number of international student numbers happening in level 5-level 7 courses.
This was only after the present government had earlier announced changes in immigration rules whereby raising the bar for the pathway from international education to residency and effectively making it mandatory to secure a job with a salary of 49k to be able to be eligible for residency.
Following these announcements, there has already been a decline of 24 per cent in the number of Indian international students coming to New Zealand.
However, not much had been said publically by all major political parties of New Zealand about effectively managing international education providers in a manner that is beneficial to both international students and New Zealand economy.
The frequent calls of discouraging international students coming to New Zealand at the level 5 to level 7 courses, appears more an absence of will and desire to regulate the international education system rather than genuine intentions to reform the system.
In this regard, this opportunity to provide feedback on the government’s proposed international education strategy should be lapped up by all of those people who have any stake in the international education industry.
“The draft strategy aims to ensure New Zealand continues to benefit from international education through a high quality and sustainable international education sector,” Mr Goldsmith says.
The Government is keen to work with the sector to encourage the development of innovative products and services, and continue to diversify education markets and to support regional economic growth.
“This means that we need to ensure that unethical or illegal activity is prevented and that New Zealand education providers attract students who are motivated by the study. It also means that government regulators need to act swiftly to address quality issues and make student wellbeing a priority. Mr Goldsmith says.
The Government is now seeking feedback from education providers and others about how the proposed strategy aligns with their priorities.
“I look forward to hearing the views of the sector and the public on this draft strategy,” Mr Goldsmith says.
The draft strategy and information on the consultation process has been published on the Education New Zealand website HERE. The consultation will close on August 31 2017 and a final strategy is expected to be published later in the year.
The International Student Wellbeing Strategy launched earlier this month will be an important part of the finalised sector strategy. It can be found HERE.
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