Making friends and allies of Asian students

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday, 24 August 2007

Making friends and allies of Asian students

New Zealand needs to grasp the opportunities that returning Asian students represent in positively expanding their countries’ relationships with New Zealand.

A new report by the Asia New Zealand Foundation – Friends and Allies: The Impacts of Returning Asian Students on New Zealand-Asia Relationships - says about 80 percent of Asian students who study in New Zealand return to Asia.

“The opportunity afforded for a significant expansion of New Zealand-Asia relationships through initiating relationships with Asian students studying here is critical,” say the report’s authors.

The returnees become ambassadors for New Zealand, commentators on this country’s values, people and lifestyles and advocates for New Zealand as a tourism destination as well as for its quality of education.

The study also notes that as Asian students who return to Asia are a great resource, so are those graduates who remain in New Zealand: “Together, Asian students who return or stay are invaluable in building relationships between countries of Asia and New Zealand.”

But the research showed that the majority of Asian students returned home without having really connected with the host community or New Zealand student peers that they would have liked.

The most frequently encountered problems returned Asian students identified were New Zealand’s poor public transport infrastructure as well as grappling to communicate well in English. Experiencing cultural distance and being unable to make New Zealand friends were also identified as major negative factors.

Some Asian students have received negative messages, such as racist remarks, financial exploitation or poor treatment by service providers.

“Research shows that amongst recent Asian students studying in New Zealand, their friendships are more likely to be made amongst co-nationals and other internationals rather than with local domestic students and other New Zealanders.”

The report’s recommendations include support building, facilitating and maintaining person-to-person relationships between Asian students and others in New Zealand, whether that is done formally through education institutions or informally through groups such as churches and sports clubs.

It also says there is a need to address issues of social exclusion and discrimination in the school or university, and in society at large. “We need to discuss ‘Asian students’ as part of a broader conversation about what it means for New Zealand to engage with Asia.”

The report’s authors:
Terry McGrath, national director, International Student Ministries New Zealand,
Paul Stock, senior tutor in plant and cell biology, Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University,
Dr Andrew Butcher, director, research and policy, Asia New Zealand Foundation.

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