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Raw Deal for Overseas Students

by Patrick O'Hagan.

'Live it up' is the NZ student motto, but for overseas students it is 'die and decay quietly among the piles of books and degrees'.

A ruling by the Overseas Students Admissions Committee (OSAC) requires private students intending to study at a university here, to obtain a satisfactory pass in the bursaries examination before they are accepted. A New Zealand student has only to obtain university entrance to be accepted into almost any university he chooses. However, as has already happened, if a student from overseas sits the New Zealand UE exam and gets a high pass, he may not be admitted to a New Zealand university.

Private overseas students who are not accepted by OSAC are obliged to complete New Zealand 7th form and get a satisfactory pass in bursary. While at school they are not supported by their own government or the New Zealand government and the school cannot accept the student unless he can show an annual inco income of $ 1200. Only a fairly wealthy student can do this. At Wellington High School, three-quarters of the 7th form are overseas students, biding their time while waiting to go to university.

Once the student has spent a tedious year, sat bursary, obtained high school certificate, passed the language test, and if a Malaysian, show he is able to speak three languages (Chinese, English, and now Malay), he must go to the university that the OSAC decides upon. This means students must be prepared to move from where they have studied and go somewhere else. They must make new friends and find more money to pay off the new expenses involved.

Their permits in this country must be strictly adhered to. This could be why the New Zealand Government does not feel obliged to support the student because to get his degree in the minimum time as required, he has no time for anything other than study.

Non-private students are apparently required to obey their own country's laws even while in New Zealand, rather than those of this country (e.g. Khoo Ee Liam). In Asian countries, to become government sponsored, you must be rich, well-educated and law-abiding. No matter how bad conditions may be, silence must be kept. When he gets to New Zealand his freedom of choice is gone as OSAC arranges everything, including the language tests.

One of the reasons given for OSAC's ruling was to put all overseas students on an equal footing, but sponsored students are certainly not financially equal to private students and no overseas student is equal to New Zealand students as regards entry and choice of university.

Another reason given by OSAC was that there was a great increase in overseas student applications to New Zealand universities and there was a high rate of failure among overseas students who had only UE qualifications. If the Government does not want overseas students they should, say so, rather than requiring them to have a higher educational standard than the New Zealand student. As it is, the roll in our universities is decreasing, so the Government should have no reason to reduce the roll by a further 6% —the percentage of overseas students.

We owe much to the Asian countries anyway. We have been exploiting Malaysian rubber workers—if they were paid an adequate wage we would have to pay $200 for a car tyre. Malaysian students, therefore, should receive an education equal to that of local students.

In the Commonwealth countries, all residents of a year or more have the right to all welfare services and participation in elections. On this basis, why can't overseas students have their own choice of university to attend, why are they not able to enter on the same educational conditions as a New Zealander, and why, having attained a New Zealand bursary, don't they receive the support it purports to offer?