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Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 14. July 2 1979

To be Grateful, First Be Rich

To be Grateful, First Be Rich

Dear Peter,

As an Overseas Student, I would also like to express my view on the issue of the so-called Discriminatory Fees.

I have seen a couple of pamphlets by NOSAC on this issue. They claim that the New Zealand Government is curtailing the rights of Overseas Students to education by imposing the 11500 admission fee. For a start, I do not think that overseas students have any rights in New Zealand apart from those normally (by international convention) afforded holders of passports of governments recognised by New Zealand. This does not include a right to education unless such foreign students are dependents of diplomatic personnel. So private and other foreign students are enjoying the hospitality of the New Zealand Government land people and the education they receive is a privilege, and Not a right, that they are afforded (partly, in the case of private students) at the expense of the New Zealand taxpayer.

It is true that New Zealand was among the colonial countries that 'siphoned off most of the resources and wealth of under-developed countries to develop their own economy.' The New Zealand government recognises this fact by exempting the South Pacific students from the fee rise. New Zealand had colonial relationships with the island territories of the South Pacific and not with the Middle East, Africa, Malaysia or Singapore. So New Zealand is not morally bound to subsidise the education of students from outside the South Pacific.

As most other countries of the capitalist world, New Zealand is facing an economic crisis at the moment and is reluctandy faced with curbing expenditure to an unprecedented minimum. At such a time, any grateful foreign students (myself included) must realise that s/he cannot continue to enjoy the economic privileges that s/he has long taken for granted. We should realise that as it is, New Zealand is by far the cheapest haven for education. In the U.S., a foreign student's total annual expenditure is around $15,000.

I would like to appeal to my fellow foreign students to be reasonable and, above all, grateful.

Yours sincerely

,

Abu Sajed.