QTI defends high quality international education against political attacks
Press Release – Quality Tertiary Institutions (QTI)
15 June 2017
For Immediate Release
Quality Tertiary Institutions (Nga Wananga Kounga), a key private tertiary education sector peak body, is going into bat
for high quality international education in the face of growing attacks from politicians and unions.
Foreign students studying in New Zealand have been targeted in a series of recent comments from Labour leader Andrew
Little, NZ First leader Winston Peters and the Tertiary Education Union (TEU). QTI believes those criticisms miss the
mark by massively underestimating the benefits of international education to the country and to the individual students.
They also risk tarnishing our educational reputation overseas, and damaging our near $5 billion international education
industry, including the 33,000 jobs that it creates.
QTI Co-Chair Kerry Priestley (International Travel College) said “international students are being caught up in a wider
political debate about restricting immigration. This will undoubtedly be a major theme of the election later this year.
New Zealand First has long campaigned on dramatically reducing immigration (including international student numbers) and
Labour is now calling for a reduction of 30,000 immigrants a year (down from 50,000 previously). The package would
dramatically change student visa conditions, particularly for lower level qualifications.”
“Mr Little may say his policy is only targeting low-quality courses but it is much broader than that. If enacted, it
will have a chilling effect on the industry, deny worthy students the chance to study here, and lead to the closure of a
number of courses and even institutions around the country, particularly in Auckland. QTI believes that Government
agencies such as NZQA and Immigration NZ have sufficient powers to deal with low-quality providers already. We support
them in their enforcement actions across all sectors of tertiary education,” Mr Priestley said.
QTI Co-Chair Wendy Pyne (Bethlehem Tertiary Institute) described the recent comments as “direct attacks on the private
tertiary sector when issues, while thankfully very rare, occur in all parts of the industry. Mr Little stated that
‘immigration policy shouldn’t be designed to sustain a bunch of private training businesses.’ We would agree with that
sentiment - but it is not the reality of the situation. Private providers are being singled out but it is worth noting
that over half of all international students attend public institutions. The TEU has noted the impact that the Labour
policy would have on polytechs with high numbers of international students. However, we do not agree with their solution
which is to push high-quality private providers out of the market simply because of their ownership status. The TEU also
continue to incorrectly assert that the entire private sector is ‘for profit’ when this is not the case. QTI members
alone include charities, not-for-profits, community trusts and not-for-loss providers.”
“A recurring theme is that international education is a ‘back door to immigration’ or even a ‘rort’. This argument
ignores the inconvenient truth that 4 out of 5 international students do not receive a further visa. They go home. Those
graduates that stay do not generally immediately buy million dollar properties or drive a fleet of cars on congested
motorways. They are not responsible for housing prices or traffic woes. Launching his policy, Mr Little noted ‘a third
of international students studying at private training establishments say they plan to work or seek residency here after
study.’ That is probably true but it does not mean they got work or residency. The statistics indicate that many did
not. It would be interesting to find out how many university and polytech international students said exactly the same
thing” noted Mrs Pyne.
Mrs Pyne and Mr Priestley affirmed the long-standing QTI position of opposing poor quality education at any level and
wherever it occurs. “We believe the Government has enough power to address low-quality education, gaming the system,
rorts, exploitation and fraud at a provider level. There is no need and no benefit in attacking legitimate students who
want to study here, and the minority who want the chance to work here and maybe live here at some point,” they said.
Notes for Editors: Quality Tertiary Institutions (QTI) is a recognised education industry peak body representing twelve
high quality private tertiary providers around New Zealand. QTI members educate over 10,000 learners a year in a diverse
number of subjects from foundation to post-graduate level. The organisation’s previous name was Independent Tertiary
Institutions (ITI).
ENDS