Caps on Chinese Students is Damaging

Caps on Chinese Students is Damaging

The private English language school industry is disappointed and disturbed by the recent media comment on possible government moves to limit the number of students from China.

“Talk of limits on the numbers of Chinese students in Auckland or the rest of New Zealand is at best mischievous and at worst damaging to the market,” Barbara Takase, APPEL chairperson said today.

“The government signalled some years ago that it wanted to see the size of export education in New Zealand doubled to over $2 billion. Now it looks like it has cold feet as a result of the anti-immigration headlines created by NZ First.”

“Any irresponsible action by the government will severely damage the livelihood of many people in the community who are now part of the export education industry. Demand from China is a good thing, not bad. If it was not there, the government would be crying out for it.”

Government is already addressing the problem areas. The new mandatory Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students requires overseas agents to be accurate with their marketing. It is also aimed at reducing student problems with home-stays.

“The irony is that the government is currently ramming through a new export tax on international student tuition fees. They are going to triple the promotion budget at the same time as limiting the demand from current markets.”

“Our government should do what it said it would do: double the $1 billion industry to $2 billion. Export education should be our number one service industry. Let’s deal with the issues, but let’s not cripple the industry.”

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