Exodus from the land of disillusion

By STUART DYE

Janice Lu saved for six years to pay for a New Zealand education and a fresh start in life. Forty-eight weeks later she returned to China having failed her exams, her dream in tatters.

Her English language school says she simply did not make the grade. Lu tells a different story. Her fulltime course was just four hours a day, her pleas for help were ignored and her request to transfer to another college was flatly refused.

As the 31-year-old returns to Harbin at the northern tip of China, Lu will have nothing but bad memories of New Zealand. She is not alone.

Chinese students are deserting New Zealand in droves in favour of education elsewhere. They are rejecting our English language colleges, universities and schools, putting further pressure on the finances of already struggling institutions.

The export education sector, firmly backed by the Government, is fighting to win them back. But Lu says her experiences, and those of others like her, will destroy New Zealand's reputation in the lucrative foreign student market.

According to Chinese students who agreed to talk to theWeekend Herald, some anonymously and some on the record, the problem is not unscrupulous rip-off immigration agents or overt racist attacks. It is simpler than that, but probably far harder to fix.

The problem, says Lu, is the difference between what Chinese students are led to believe they will get for their money and what New Zealand is offering.

While students head here for a high-calibre education and immersion in a new way of life, they find they are plagued by a combination of poor-quality schooling, bureaucratic wrangling and a position firmly on the margin of Kiwi society.

Another student, Tiffany Zhang, says she was stunned to find her promised fulltime English language course was only four hours a day. That standard meets New Zealand Qualifications Authority regulations, but Zhang says it is not enough to learn the language sufficiently to progress to tertiary education.

In addition, she says, classes often started late and finished early, and the breaks frequently extended well beyond the planned 15 minutes.

Both Lu and Zhang tried to change colleges but were rebuffed by a system that rules they lose their money if they transfer after an eight-day grace period.

After Zhang complained to the NZQA, a tutor at her college called her homestay family and told them she was a troublemaker. She was promptly kicked out and left to find a new place to live. NZQA, meanwhile, rejected her complaint.

Sarah Xie had a similar experience when she asked her school for a transfer. While it was eventually granted, management called her agent, who in turn called her mother in China, saying she had a boyfriend and was not studying.

"Yes, I had a boyfriend, but I am a 20-year-old woman and can have friends and still study," says Xie.

Lu, who left the country last week, says she and many of her peers suffered a plethora of minor problems that eventually made their lives unbearable.

"New Zealand is a beautiful country. It is all the little things that happen to us that have caused all the problems," Lu says. "But it is those little things that are so important in helping us."

Dr Robert Sanders, from the University of Auckland's school of Asian studies, says Chinese students lament the social experience they have in New Zealand.

They are lumped together with other countries and other cultures as "Asians" - much the same as assuming Kiwis are just like Australians.

"It is the problem of always being treated as 'the other', which naturally has a psychological effect," he says. "Most have had at least one or two negative experiences, while it is very difficult for Chinese to see themselves and Asians as monolithic."

Another student says that after almost six months here he could count the conversations he had had with New Zealanders on one hand. While he agrees Chinese and other foreign students do not always mix, he feels the fault lies more with the New Zealand people.

"People don't make us welcome, they make us unwelcome and there is a difference," he says.

The gulf between perception and experience has been highlighted at this week's inaugural Asian health and well-being conference in Auckland. A study released at the conference revealed that thousands of students were arriving in New Zealand and failing to make friends with their classmates. Asian students were also more likely than other international students to suffer from symptoms of depression.

The falling number of foreign students is a bitter pill to swallow for the industry after an unprecedented boom in export education, which two years ago elevated it to a billion-dollar business.

The first cracks appeared with the high-profile collapse of English Language schools such as Carich a little over a year ago, but since then there has been little evidence of a recovery.

Perversely, part of the problem was the explosive growth. With little regulation or monitoring, students were often treated as commodities, rather than people hunting for a good education and a fulfilling life experience.

Unsurprisingly, the Government has stepped in. Relations with China are extremely important to the economy - China is our fourth-largest trading partner with total trade of about $4 billion.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard has been to Beijing three times in the past 2 1/2 years, and earlier this year the first education counsellor appointed by New Zealand in China was installed to help both countries to better understand each other's education systems.

The structure of pastoral care has been strengthened and a code of practice has been established. The Ministry of Education has also published a Mandarin language guide to living in studying in New Zealand.

A $40 million Budget package was ploughed into export education for marketing, scholarships and innovation, with the emphasis firmly on quality.

But while it will undoubtedly help an ailing industry, there are some in the sector who say it is just not enough.

Robert Stevens, chief executive of Education New Zealand, believes the problem is simply fighting against the opposition.

"We were an early entrant into the Chinese market but now the competition has hotted up significantly," he says.

"There's our traditional rivals, Australia, Canada, the US and the UK, but there's also emerging competitors in Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. There's also a shift in attitudes in mainland China - where once a foreign education was coveted, it is now common and no guarantee of a good job."

The key is marketing, Stevens says. Perceptions need to be rebuilt after bad publicity in the Chinese press.

The organisation this week sent representatives to education fairs in China, splashing out on better stalls, resources and materials to create a professional image.

It's about creating a high-quality look and feel, he says.

Schools and universities are also heading to China to tempt a share of students, and their money, to one institution or another.

But Patrick Ibbertson, chairman of the Association of Private Providers of English Language, argues that the Government is leading the sector in the wrong direction.

He is outspoken about what he describes as a catastrophic collapse, not experienced by any other industry in the country.

Thousands of Chinese students have come here and had a good experience, says Ibbertson, and the quality of education is not an issue.

"It's as good as anywhere else in the world, and the assumption that the downturn is due to quality factors is a false analysis."

The appreciation of the dollar has played a part, he says, but largely it's caused by policy changes in other countries, which are attracting international students ahead of New Zealand.

"Our competitors have reduced regulation and made it easier and more attractive to study there. But we have gone the other way.

"Two years ago students did not come rushing here because it was the best in the world; it's because we made it easier than anywhere else. Now that's changed and there's no surprise we are suffering.

"We need to untangle the bureaucracy and start maximising New Zealand's true strengths."

A review of immigration policy is planned for next year, which, among other issues, will look at the rules surrounding transfer to a different college.

That will help, says Ibbertson, but the Government is moving sluggishly.

Certainly the changes are too slow for Janice Lu. She says if she had been able to transfer to a different college, she would still be in New Zealand.

A friend of hers changed from one language school to another within the allowed eight days and will start at AUT next year, studying early childhood education.

"That could have been me," Lu says. "I don't know what I am going to do now. It will have to be different from my plans. I just don't want other students to waste time and money like I did."