Plight of students big news in China

By SCOTT MacLEOD

Suellen Young is telling friends in China not to worry about her, despite news reports about New Zealand's failing language schools.

The 18-year-old had been studying English in Auckland for less than three months when two schools collapsed, triggering alarm in Asia.

"People at home heard schools were closing down and they were worried about me."

Miss Young is one of the lucky ones - her school is still running.

But the fact that her friends are hearing of the closures shows that New Zealand language-school woes are becoming known to everyday Chinese.

Tomorrow up to 50 million more people will learn about them when Education Minister Trevor Mallard features on the China Central Television show Oriental Horizon.

A spokeswoman for the minister said that during the 20-minute interview, pre-recorded yesterday, Mr Mallard discussed the school collapses, the quality of education in New Zealand, and how the Government was helping students stung by the closures.

On the streets of Auckland yesterday, most foreign students spoken to said the growing bad publicity must dent our $1.7-billion-a-year foreign education industry.

Some said schools had to be better organised and budgeted, with some sort of insurance or Government back-up to reduce the risk for overseas students.

China's demand for New Zealand and other Western countries to provide lists of approved schools could go some way towards that.

More than half the students said other problems needed to be addressed, such as a lack of part-time jobs, expensive rooms and the effect of the soaring exchange rate.

Remarkably, four out of eight Chinese students said their education was suffering because there were too many Asians in Auckland. "If my friend in China wants to study I will tell her to go to Canada," said Vicky Gao, 19.

"A lot of Chinese students come here and it's not good for speaking English."

Yao Di, 19, said: "I thought there would be more New Zealand students. I am speaking a lot of Chinese."

* Two dozen education leaders meet in Wellington this morning to discuss China's demands and the criteria for deciding which schools should be on the "approved" list.