ISSUE
Friday, August 15, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 72
New Zealand’s fastest growing, high-value, service sector and the fifth largest export earner is export education. Students of all nationalities arrive and stay in Auckland, where there are many educational institutes, employment opportunities, and well established ethnic communities. For these reasons Auckland hosts 60% of international students, with numbers increasing 12% in the first trimester this year. Stabilising declines from previous years, Indian international students now made up an increasing proportion of these student numbers.
In 2013 total Indian international students in New Zealand were nearly 12,000 - the second-largest and fastest-growing group after China. 78% of Auckland’s Private Training Establishment international students are now Indian and growing numbers are attending Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics.
Despite these increasing numbers, without support networks of family and friends life can be very lonely for recent student arrivals.Their potential isolation puts them in a unique position within the labour market where many are thankful to meet others within their ethnic community and often obtain jobs through word-of-mouth.
International students are more likely than native populations to experience poor working conditions, exacerbated by age and English proficiency. While not all work is exploitative, recent arrival status may signal a lack of knowledge about employment rights, legal minima and how to avoid poor treatment. These workers may also feel apprehensive about questioning their working conditions if they have gained a job through their classmates or friends. Further, research has shown Indian communities not only often ignore this mistreatment but in many cases ‘use’ these workers in their businesses.
Consequently, this PhD research seeks to survey international students to explore the factors that compel international students to work in New Zealand and how these workers can be better protected. International students are invited to answer the survey link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/STUDENT_MIGRANT_SURVEY
For those wishing to be confidentially interviewed about their working experiences or those with interest in the subject please email:
danderso@aut.ac.nz
New Zealand’s fastest growing, high-value, service sector and the fifth largest export earner is export education. Students of all nationalities arrive and stay in Auckland, where there are many educational institutes, employment opportunities, and well established ethnic communities. For these...
New Zealand’s fastest growing, high-value, service sector and the fifth largest export earner is export education. Students of all nationalities arrive and stay in Auckland, where there are many educational institutes, employment opportunities, and well established ethnic communities. For these reasons Auckland hosts 60% of international students, with numbers increasing 12% in the first trimester this year. Stabilising declines from previous years, Indian international students now made up an increasing proportion of these student numbers.
In 2013 total Indian international students in New Zealand were nearly 12,000 - the second-largest and fastest-growing group after China. 78% of Auckland’s Private Training Establishment international students are now Indian and growing numbers are attending Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics.
Despite these increasing numbers, without support networks of family and friends life can be very lonely for recent student arrivals.Their potential isolation puts them in a unique position within the labour market where many are thankful to meet others within their ethnic community and often obtain jobs through word-of-mouth.
International students are more likely than native populations to experience poor working conditions, exacerbated by age and English proficiency. While not all work is exploitative, recent arrival status may signal a lack of knowledge about employment rights, legal minima and how to avoid poor treatment. These workers may also feel apprehensive about questioning their working conditions if they have gained a job through their classmates or friends. Further, research has shown Indian communities not only often ignore this mistreatment but in many cases ‘use’ these workers in their businesses.
Consequently, this PhD research seeks to survey international students to explore the factors that compel international students to work in New Zealand and how these workers can be better protected. International students are invited to answer the survey link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/STUDENT_MIGRANT_SURVEY
For those wishing to be confidentially interviewed about their working experiences or those with interest in the subject please email:
danderso@aut.ac.nz
Leave a Comment