Asian students upset by coaching college closing

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32633, 15 June 1971, Page 14

Asian students upset by coaching college closing

(New Zealand Preu Association) AUCKLAND, June 14. The abrupt closing of the Premier Coaching College in Auckland today has left 350 students, many of them from Asian countries, in dismay and doubt about their educational future.

News of the closing, half-way through the college year, was announced to staff and students this morning. A spokesman for the overseas students, Mr C. Lee, of Malaysia, said: “The future is not in our hands. It’s up to the Government to decide. We appeal to the Government and people of New Zealand for good judgment and for fairness.

“We hope the people of New Zealand will realise the political implications and the repercussions that are going on in our country, particularly among the parents of the students. I hate to think how they are going to take the news.” CLASSES STOPPED

The Director of Premier Coaching College (Auckland), Ltd, Mr R. R. Pitman, said this afternoon that the company’s shareholders had resolved that it should be liquidated because it was unable to meet its debts.

Earlier, it was announced that all classes would cease immediately, except for one class which would continue until Saturday. Students were told to remove personal belongings from the premises and not to return to classes.

Mr J. G. M. Spooner, a chartered accountant, of Auckland, has been appointed provisional liquidator; and the directors are to give an explanation of the company’s failure at a meeting of creditors on June 23. POLICY BLAMED

In a letter to the Minister of Immigration last Wednesday, Mr Pitman blamed the impending liquidation of the company on a change of Government immigration policy. He said the company had entered into long-term commitments on the basis of permission it received in September, 1969, to admit overseas students for its business administration course. But 12 months later the permission was rescinded and a large number of students who had been enrolled could no longer gain entry permits. “Representations to the Government could not achieve any change irr

policy,” said Mr Pitman today, “and as a result $55,000 has had to be refunded to students overseas —and it is the present liability for further refunds of fees that has directly brought about the present situation." The solicitor for the college, Mr P. T. Cavanagh, said tonight that the directors of the college had acted responsibly when difficulties were foreseen. He said the collapse of the company was not because of a shortage of cash but because of contingent liabilities. SECOND TO CLOSE

Premier is the second Auckland college of its kind to succumb at short notice within six months to what one Asian student today wryly called "the New Zealand flu.” Last October, 450 students were affected, 230 of them from overseas, when the Auckland Business College closed its doors. Premier Coaching College started eight or nine years ago. Its business administration course, which began 18 months ago and gives tuition for New Zealand Institute of Management examinations, has 115 students, all of them from Fiji, Malaysia, Thailand or Singapore. DETERMINATION This afternoon many of these students crowded into the office of their principal, Mr B. J. Collett—who has been given a week’s notice — to talk to a reporter. Though obviously despondent about the college’s closing, they were quietly determined to continue their studies, preferably through the Government taking over the college until their courses end. “We came here to New Zealand for one purpose—to study and get our certificates —and we Intend to see this through,” said Mr Lee. "We do not believe in demonstrations. We believe the people of New Zealand and the Government are sound enough to look after us, a group of students who don’t know what is coming tomorrow.

“Many students have amassed their life’s savings to seek a career and it just ends here and now. They have been supported by their parents, who thought they were here to do well.”

Although the students i praised the work their lee-1 turers had done in spite of under-staffing, they were | bitterly critical of the way ■ the college was promoted by j representatives visiting their | countries to recruit students. “Right from the start the ; students have been disillusioned,” said Mr Lee. “They were promised all the facilities and benefits of overseas education, but the truth fell desperately short of what they were expecting.” GOOD PASSES Mr Collett said the students had done extremely well in their examinations last year. Their pass rate was about 55 per cent, even though they did not arrive in New Zealand until half-way through the year. He said things had been going very well at the college recently, and before the “bombshell” dropped today he had made an appointment with an Education Department official to see about the , business administration sec- ' tion being registered. The Regional Superintendent of Education (Mr H. H.

Craig), who also received no advance notice of the closing, said he hoped proposals about the students’ future would be decided by the end of the week. He said he did not see any immediate prospect of their being required to return home. Students from the ill-fated Auckland Business College are now continuing their studies at technical institutes in Auckland, Waikato, Palmerston North, and Wellington. PARLIAMENT QUESTION The member of Parliament for New Lynn, Mr J. L. Hunt, will ask an urgent question about the future of the students in Parliament tomorrow. Tonight he said it would concern their future

education and the refunding of fees paid. Secondary pupils affected by the closing of the college were tonight offered coaching at a 10 per cent discount by Dominion Teaching Associates, Ltd, another coaching college.