Tardy service upsets professional trainers

Indian students have faced waits of up to five months to get confirmation of a student visa, despite having already been accepted for courses of study in New Zealand.

The same task is completed by the British and Australian immigration bureaucracies (despite their heightened level of concern about security) within one and two weeks respectively. Both countries also have an “authorised agent” system, which offers approvals of visas online within 24 hours (for the UK) or six hours (for Australia).

Not surprisingly, many Indian students lose patience and opt to study in Australia, the UK, Canada or the US. Others, often on advice from local education placement consultants, bypass New Zealand altogether.

Unfortunately, when it comes to export education, it cannot be said that New Zealand has ‘the world’s fastest Indians.’  It comes as no surprise to learn that our system remains largely paper-based, when e-visas are the norm in the developed world.

In recent months, Immigration New Zealand has managed to speed up the process to enable approval within six weeks, which is an improvement.  

However, this does little for our ranking within the pack. 

Meanwhile our slow processing time is putting a cap on growth in the Indian market, which is already worth $200 million per annum to New Zealand. 

Of the 85,000 foreign students in New Zealand, only 6000 are from India. 

But this represents an increase of 42% on the year 2007-08, and there are no signs of demand slowing.  Do the maths and you will see that each of these students brings on average $33,000 into the New Zealand economy.  That is significantly higher than the ‘return’ to the country on the average tourist visa.

Like students from other countries, Indian students come to New Zealand for a wide range of educational qualifications. Providers attract foreign students to any high quality tertiary training in professional skills for which there is a global market. 

The Professional Bar and Restaurant School, a private training establishment based in Auckland and Wellington, focuses on training high-end front of house staff for the hospitality industry. Much of the growth in our business has been international students seeking employment in the burgeoning global hospitality industry. 

Like many other tertiary providers in an environment where government is constraining its spending on education, the international student market is a key source of revenue. Moreover, if well-managed, international students enhance the learning experience of domestic students, as they often bring a global perspective and strong work ethic that contrasts with the sometimes relaxed and easygoing attitudes of many Kiwi students.

Immigration Minister Jonathon Coleman announced recently that Immigration New Zealand would process student visas from India on priority, alongside an additional $1.45 million for promotion of New Zealand education providers in key offshore markets. 

Education Minister Anne Tolley has also said she is keen to work with the sector to help grow international education.

These are sensible moves given the value of export education to New Zealand.   

India is one of the fastest growing markets in an industry that brings in $2.1 billion in export revenues per annum, of which $600 million is in fees, in addition to spin-off benefits such as bringing families to New Zealand for graduation.

The industry supports about 32,000 jobs in New Zealand.

But a more aggressive performance target would yield even greater benefits. New Zealand exporters have learned that, as a small nation, we need to match our competitors and go one better than them.

If each Indian student generates $33,000 of economic benefit to New Zealand, then, $1 million spent on improving visa-processing time would pay for itself once 30 additional students chose New Zealand.

More, the emerging trends in the international education market may show deficiencies in New Zealand’s operation in other countries, notably the growth markets of Korea and Vietnam.

We should of course be cautious about how and to whom we grant student visas. 

Some people may have abused the student visa system as the backdoor to permanent residency; and the unscrupulous behaviour of some (mainly offshore) education placement agents has left the bureaucrats understandably wary. 

But this needs to be seen in the light of the potential upside to the New Zealand economy from paying for a faster service.  Once basic safeguards are used to filter abusers, those applying to study in New Zealand are overwhelmingly hard-working, ambitious people who are prepared to invest money in the quality education provided by New Zealand institutions. 

The Government is on record saying that removing unnecessary border-controls for these students is a high priority.  Their moves so far have been in the right direction, but more action is needed, and fast.

Luella Bartlett is co-Managing Director of the Professional Bar and Restaurant School based on the Auckland’s Central Business District.