ISSUE
Friday, August 15, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 72
More people are coming to New Zealand to study. And it’s easy to see why - we have a world class international education sector.
The National-led Government backs our international education export industry. This is a sector that has been a key part of diversifying our economy.
International education is worth $4.5 billion to the New Zealand economy each year, and supports 33,000 jobs. Last year, we granted just over 72,500 international student visas for tertiary institutions.
International education is an important part of our knowledge-based economy, and our approach is to work with the industry to steadily improve outcomes, rather than threatening large parts of it.
Where Labour’s immigration policy would target so-called ‘low level’ education, we recognise the value of this part of the sector.
Labour’s policy would stop issuing student visas for courses below a bachelor’s degree, targeting a reduction of 15,000 to 22,000 international students.
This is a quarter of the sector and could cost New Zealand as much as a billion dollars a year and thousands of jobs.
It would also detriment our private education providers who train our engineering technologists, technicians, caregivers and chefs. These are in fact Level 5 and 6 courses, not low level, and are skills that New Zealand actually needs.
The National-led Government is committed to ensuring our immigration policies support our growing economy, not stall it. And targeting international students would put a vital part of our economy at risk.
Every industry has its challenges, and export education is no different. The Government is working hard to drive out poor performance in the sector and ensure we provide a great quality product to students.
We want to ensure that all international students feel welcome, enjoy a high-quality education, and are valued for their contribution to New Zealand.
More people are coming to New Zealand to study. And it’s easy to see why - we have a world class international education sector.
The National-led Government backs our international education export industry. This is a sector that has been a key part of diversifying our economy.
International...
More people are coming to New Zealand to study. And it’s easy to see why - we have a world class international education sector.
The National-led Government backs our international education export industry. This is a sector that has been a key part of diversifying our economy.
International education is worth $4.5 billion to the New Zealand economy each year, and supports 33,000 jobs. Last year, we granted just over 72,500 international student visas for tertiary institutions.
International education is an important part of our knowledge-based economy, and our approach is to work with the industry to steadily improve outcomes, rather than threatening large parts of it.
Where Labour’s immigration policy would target so-called ‘low level’ education, we recognise the value of this part of the sector.
Labour’s policy would stop issuing student visas for courses below a bachelor’s degree, targeting a reduction of 15,000 to 22,000 international students.
This is a quarter of the sector and could cost New Zealand as much as a billion dollars a year and thousands of jobs.
It would also detriment our private education providers who train our engineering technologists, technicians, caregivers and chefs. These are in fact Level 5 and 6 courses, not low level, and are skills that New Zealand actually needs.
The National-led Government is committed to ensuring our immigration policies support our growing economy, not stall it. And targeting international students would put a vital part of our economy at risk.
Every industry has its challenges, and export education is no different. The Government is working hard to drive out poor performance in the sector and ensure we provide a great quality product to students.
We want to ensure that all international students feel welcome, enjoy a high-quality education, and are valued for their contribution to New Zealand.
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