You've got to hand it to the professor of Asian studies at Auckland University**. She isn't afraid to say what a lot of us have known for some time, it's just refreshing to see it spoken about so frankly. What makes her statements so much more credible is that she is in the position to know more about these these things than the rest of us.
From another excellent article by the migration affairs reporter in the New Zealand Herald, Lincon Tan, we learn that:
"International students are worth $2 billion annually to the economy. "If you want to put it crudely, they are seen only as cash cows," said Professor Manying Ip, a professor of Asian studies at Auckland University."
$2 Billion, who'd have thought it was that much. This is a major earner for the country where the GDP is $115 Billion.
So what other benefits, besides the obvious, do international students have for New Zealand? Not many it seems and local students are feeling uneasy about having so many 'foreigners' in their classes:
"New Zealanders' attitudes towards international students today is very different to the days when we had the Colombo Plan, when they really wanted to share the benefits of New Zealand education with the developing world."
International students support 45,000 jobs, pay more than $600 million in direct fees and the travel and tourism industry further benefits from their visiting friends and families.
Professor Ip says the value of international students are being equated by schools to getting a new IT room or a swimming pool, rather than any of the non-monetary benefits they bring.
Even local students feel uncomfortable in the presence of too many international students, another academic says."
In Canterbury why do only the Pakeha (Caucasian) students take umbrage and leave when the international students turn up, where do they go we wonder?:
"Last year, head of Elam Art School Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, said: "I know from my time in Canterbury, you can have too many international students and the Pakeha students take flight."
Professor Ip says although her colleague's comments were regrettable, it was not an unknown kind of feeling.
"I try to convince my colleagues of the other benefits, like international connections and cultural awareness, to a university in an isolated country like New Zealand, but it has been a struggle."
A new swimming pool is so much more tangible.
The article ends with a judicious application of PR salve from the university, no doubt mindful that somewhere in NZ the funding of a new IT suite could be in jeopardy:
"This year, Auckland University has 908 new international students, who will be paying tuition fees of more than $20 million.
Vice-chancellor Stuart McCutcheon says it is grossly inaccurate to say international students are being treated as cash cows.
Dr Christopher Tremewan, the university's international pro vice-chancellor, said issues sometimes arose because professors failed to distinguish between international students and immigrant students, who did not have to take strict language tests to enter the university and often struggled with the English language."
One has to ask why strict language tests aren't required. Surely for the sakes of the students who are investing thousands of dollars in their education it would be advisable to ensure that they can at least understand what they are being taught? Is the international language of cold, hard cash is all that's needed?
** "Dr Ip is a respected advocate for Chinese communities living in New Zealand. She was awarded a Suffrage Centennial Medal in 1993 and was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1996. In 2004 she co-directed New Faces Old Fears, a television documentary exploring racism, multiculturalism and social cohesion in New Zealand. In late 2008, she was elected a Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Humanities (FNZAH) in recognition of her distinction in research and the advancement of the humanities." (source)
See also: blog posts tagged Blog posts tagged Education "Principals divided over Asian studies": "Palmerston North secondary school principals are divided over whether students should be taught more about Asia to boost future chances of doing business with countries such as China and India.
All but one Palmerston North high school have Asian international students enrolled and have sister schools in Asia, but only half of the principals think it is relevant to include more Asian content in the school curriculum. None offers Mandarin as a language..."
"The Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand is seeking a briefing from Auckland police over the disappearance of an Indian student.
Srikanth Rayadurgam, 23, disappeared on his way to class at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) 10 days ago.
His family have accused police of shifting resources off his case to the search for missing toddler Aisling Symes and questioned whether race was a factor.
Mr Rayadurgam's disappearance was being widely reported in India and had prompted the Indian High Commissioner to seek a one-on-one briefing with investigators, TVNZ reported tonight.
His family believe he may have been the victim of foul play."
Other news reports say that he may have been robbed - he was recorded on CCTV withdrawing $250 dollars from an ATM close to his college on Queen Street at 2.17pm 1 Oct, that was a couple of hours after he left home on his way to AUT. When his wallet was found the following morning on a cycle track on Curran Street a few kilometres away, it was empty except for $10 which could have been easily missed by someone rifling through it.
The rest of his belongings were found at Westhaven Marina and included a shoe without a lace, his wallet, cellphone, jacket and backpack. They were stuffed under a rock below the tide line His bank accounts and cellphone have not been used since he vanished.
Mr Rayadurgam, 23, was from Hyderabad and had graduated in hotel management from the Indian Institute of Culinary Arts in Begumpet, he arrived in New Zealand in February to take an advanced diploma course at AUT University, He was living with his sister R. Padma Priya, and brother-in-law Nagesh Babu, in Mt Albert, Auckland. He has no other family in New Zealand. His family have said that his disappearance is out of character.
We are concerned too about his disappearance, it seems highly irregular, we fear the worst but are hoping he'll turn up safe. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.
For other posts about overseas student safety in NZ please see:
"Dunedin police were forced to don riot gear and use pepper spray to disperse student mobs during overnight partying after the controversial Undie 500 rally arrived in the city.
About 20 were arrested after more than 600 people pelted officers with bottles, bricks and bicycle parts in the student stronghold of North Dunedin.
The 70 officers took about two hours to disperse the students.
The annual Undie 500 event, organised by Canterbury University engineering students, involves a pub crawl from Christchurch to Dunedin, in cars worth under $500.
The event has previously caused headaches for Dunedin police left to control riotous behaviour at the end of the trip.
Last year's official Undie 500 was cancelled after rioting in the city resulted in 69 arrests the previous year.
However, an unofficial version of the event still ran and 30 arrests were made after another round of disorder.
Most of last night's action centred in the three blocks around Castle Street, with mobs setting furniture and piles of rubbish on fire in Castle and Leith streets, Dunedin Area Commander Inspector Dave Campbell said.
One officer was hit in the head and knocked down with a hurled bottle, and would have been seriously injured if not for his helmet, he said.
Flying bottles hit two or three other people, who had to be taken away by ambulance for treatment.
Mr Campbell said there would be a boosted police presence this weekend and anyone arrested would gain a criminal record, due to a no-diversion policy.......more here"
Good grief! these are supposedly the elite, most intelligent and able young people on which the future prosperity of New Zealand depends. Heaven help us all, have they nothing better to do? And as for the billion dollar, international student market what right thinking family is going to chose to invest in sending their kids to such a place?
A number of residents were injured during the riot when they were caught in cross fire between the students and police. The city's mayor believes the rioting is symptomatic of the harm alcohol is doing to society
"Indian students studying in New Zealand's southernmost city Invercargill have been targets of racial abuse and called terrorists by
local people, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Four of those targeted are Sikhs who wear turbans, which they said made some ignorant people confuse them with Arabs or Muslims, the Southland Times reported.
One victim, Jasdeep Singh, told the paper he had defied his religious principles and had a haircut to avoid wearing a turban because he feared for his safety.
"I haven't told my parents yet," he said. "They will be shocked and quite angry."
Five students out of a group of 25 who arrived in Invercargill this month to study at the Southern Institute of Technology said they had experienced 16 incidents of racial abuse in the last 12 days.
Jasmail Singh said the abusers, men and women, were generally in their early 20s and the attacks, including calls to leave the country, had put them off walking around the city after dark"
Recent increases in migrant numbers have caused tensions to rise in the town where around 90% of the population was born in New Zealand.
Things got so bad last year that mayor, Tim Shadbolt and chief executive of the Southland Institute of Technology Penny Simmonds arranged a meeting with local skinheads.
Ms Simmonds said that two Indian students decided to return home after they were abused by a carload of youths. Other Southland leaders told of mothers being ignored at day care centres, 6-year-old children making racist remarks and migrants in rural areas feeling so isolated they visited the library to talk to someone.
Mr Shadbolt recommended that a designated student area with a hostel be set up away from the central business district because anyone walking through the city at night faced the risk of being abused “even if you go out with a police patrol”
“I’d hate to be wearing a turban walking up (the street in) Invercargill,” he said.
Other residents also suffered wilful damage to property, intimidation and threatening behaviour from the group.
But it's not just migrant groups that have been subjected to abuse in the town, Gypsies have been targeted recently too.
Around 60 Gypsies, in the town for the annual Gypsy fair over the Easter weekend, called Invercargill the "worst town in New Zealand" and said that they dreaded going there because of violent attacks and vandalism from local hoons.
There have been calls for a "zero tolerance" approach to racially motivated crimes in Invercargill and the problem has been widely acknowledged to exist, yet the community either lacks the resolution or the resources to tackle it head on.
International press covers more stories of racist attacks on Indian nationals From Dnaindia.com 1 June 2009 by Ajay Bharadwaj "Chandigarh: After Australia, there are now reports of racial attacks on Indians in New Zealand. A 23-year-old student from Ludhiana was reportedly attacked by a drunken youth this week.
Nitesh Khanna, a student of diploma in business studies at Auckland, was attacked when he was on his way to work. The youth tried to rob Nitesh of his car and even damaged it. Nitesh's calls to the police for help went in vain.
The assailant chased Nitesh's vehicle till his workplace where his employer came to his defence. Nitesh informed his family in Ludhiana about the incident.
His father Rakesh Khanna says, "The incident is an offshoot of racial attacks on Indian students in Australia over the past four-five days."
The case is not an isolated one.
Sunil Sharma (name changed), doing hotel management course in Auckland, says, "I am subjected to frequent incidents of discrimination. But, I don't want to get any case registered. Recently, a brick was hurled at me by some youths when I was returning home".
"I know several other Indians facing the same situation. But, none of them will come on record, fearing problems in their academic careers," he says."
How many more students keep quiet, fearing reprecussions and a backlash if they make a complaint? I suspect the problem is much worse than is reported by the New Zealand press.
Update: sensing a chance to cash-in on the recent troubles in Australia the following press release has appeared in numerous publications aimed at Indians around the globe recently
"Auckland: The number of Indian students heading to New Zealand has been steadily increasing over the past five years. This year the government is making efforts to see a marked rise in enrolments, marketing itself as a safe alternative to neighbouring where many Indian students have faced racist attacks.
Although Australia has nearly 90,000 Indian students and New Zealand only about 6,000, it is a huge rise from the 500 in this country five years ago.
"India has become an important source for students in recent years. The New Zealand government very much welcomes this growing Indian student body," says New Zealand High Commissioner to India Rupert Holborow.
New Zealand invests about NZ$3 billion annually in the tertiary (universities and polytechnics) education system where most of the Indian students are enrolled. And following a spate of attacks on Indians in Australia, the New Zealand government has asked its trade and enterprise office in India to market the country as a nation with a culture different from its neighbour.
"What we want to do is to remind education agents in India that New Zealand is a different country from Australia - in the nicest possible way," Robert Stevens, chief executive of Education New Zealand, was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald in June.
Many Indians living in New Zealand agree.
"I came here in February 2008 and I haven't faced any racial discrimination," says Joseph Lenus, an Indian pursuing a Diploma in Business at the Waikato Insitute of Technology (Wintec) in Hamilton.
Pharbhu Parsotam, an Indian origin resident of Hamilton, represented the New Zealand hockey team in the past and has coached various club teams. He believes that the country is very accommodating of people from other nationalities.
"I have never faced racism in all my playing days and after. In fact, I had been subjected to howling occasionally on roads but nothing in the sporting area or ground," says Parsotam.
Nagaraj from Channai, who has been studying physiotherapy at the Waikato University from July 2008, says he likes New Zealand's educational system because unlike in India it is student- oriented.
"Here we have a more relaxed way of learning and the tutors are casual in their approach. So adapting to studies and life is easier," says Nagaraj.
There are also a lot of job opportunities in New Zealand despite the global recession.
Gurminder Singh, who hails from Punjab's Jalandhar district, is pursuing a Diploma in Business Administration at Wintec and also doing part-time work.
"I work for 20 hours per week and earn nearly $200. With this money I could cover my living expenses as well as save and send for my family back home in India," says Singh.
Students enter New Zealand through a one-year student visa, which gets converted to a graduate open work visa for one year and allows them to opt for any job.
After one year, they can opt for a two-year work visa. Meanwhile, they can apply for permanent residency and get one if they get maximum points in the skilled migrant category.
Daphne Bell, a community organiser in Hamilton who teaches immigrants English for free and has authored "New to NZ: A Guide to Ethnic groups in New Zealand", says that Indian migrants provide a symbol of multi-culturalism that is essential for New Zealand.
"Indians work harder than the natives and New Zealand should make all efforts to tap the potential of the migrants," she says.
New Zealand is a multi-ethnic country and is predominately populated by the white population known as Paheka. The indigenous Maori community constitutes 16 percent of the population.
Historian and Auckland Institute of Technology professor Paul Moon says that though the Maori population was initially cold to Asians, there is now a better understanding among them for political rights.
"This is reflected in the election of Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi of the ruling National Party as a member of parliament," says Moon.
Suman Kapoor, New Zealand secretary of the Global Organization for People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), says Indians are safe in New Zealand because of the political clout that they enjoy.
"Indian origin people enjoy enormous political influence because political parties look up to them for funding during the elections," says Kapoor"
If you're an Indian student thinking about studying in New Zealand I hope your research can see through a press release.
