Foreign students promised greater protections in New Zealand

Foreign students will be given recourse to arbitration if they complain about aspects of their pastoral care while studying in New Zealand, the government said Thursday.

New regulations, including an updated stricter Code of Pastoral Care, would come into force Friday to help ensure international students studying in New Zealand get the care and support they need for a successful study experience, said Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce.

"The new code of Practice will further strengthen providers' responsibilities for the recruitment of international students, and the care of them while they are in the country," Joyce said.

The new code required that international students were provided with accurate and reliable information to make informed choices about coming to study and live in New Zealand, before they arrived.

It also provided that international students were fully informed about the advice and services available to them.

The new code enabled the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), as the code administrator, to take poor performing providers out of the international student market more swiftly.

"Importantly, education providers are required under the new code to monitor and ensure the quality of agents they use to recruit students, including checking references and ensuring agents have complete and reliable information about study opportunities in New Zealand," said Joyce.

A new dispute resolution scheme provided a faster and more effective forum for resolving contract and financial disagreements between students and providers.

The number of international students continued to grow with more than 120,000 international students studying in New Zealand last year.

International education contributed 2.85 billion NZ dollars (2.02 billion U.S. dollars) a year to the economy and provided more than 30,000 jobs. Endit