Culture-shocked Iraqi student leaves Lincoln

Press, 26 May 1979, Page 11

Culture-shocked Iraqi student leaves Lincoln

One of the first Iraqi students to come to New Zealand under a scheme to promote trade relations between the two countries has returned home after only two months study at Lincoln College. Difficulties with language, academic requirements, and accommodation were said to have contributed to the man's mental ill-health. He and his family of four left for home this month, abandoning a four-year course of study sponsored by the Iraqi Government. His sudden departure has raised concern in some quarters about the need to provide more specialised help for overseas students faced with a big cultural adjustment. It has also been the subject of diplomatic exchanges between Wellington and Baghdad. According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, six Iraqis were accepted for agricultural or horticultural training in New Zealand after trade talks in 1977.

Iraq saw the provision of such education in NewZealand as “part of a total framework for improving relations.” he said. The return home of one of the students had now created “a difficult situation.” The Ministry was responsible for travel arrangements and English tuition for the students. It did not usually handle private students, but this case was an exception as a display of goodwill to Iraq. The Iraqis were given a brief language course in Wellington before they arrived at Lincoln in February.

The problems faced by the student concerned have been described in a letter to “The Press” by a former post - graduate student at Lincoln. According to him, the Iraqi came here under the impression That his degree would take three years. As an undergraduate he held a diploma in Iraq, and believed that his three-year course had been agreed to by the two Governments.

He did not learn that he was required to complete a one-year diploma, before embarking on a bachelor of horticultural science course, until he reached Lincoln.

Housing problems were an added concern, the letter said. The six Iraqi students and their families were initially accommodated temporarily in a college flat, but were expected to move into permanent housing after a week. At this stage, the Ministry had relinquished responsibility for the Iraqis. They sought help from the student flatting service at the University of Canterbury, -which was unable to find a suitable house. The students eventually found themselves a house. The student who chose to leave made his decision late in April, and consulted the Ministry and Lincoln

College authorities. According to the letter, travel arrangements made by the Ministry misfired. The Iraqi family finally made a hurried departure, first for Auckland and then on to Baghdad. Their countrymen had to provide the domestic fare for part of the trip.

The letter said that the student and his family, which included a baby, aged 10 months, had suffered much unhappiness, and questioned whether more should have been done to help the Iraqis settle into a new and strange environment.

Members of the staff at Lincoln, questioned aboyt the episode, felt that the Iraqis had received all the help the college could provide. It was suggested that language difficulties and unreasonable expectations had much to do with the student’s departure. Lincoln College’s principal (Professor J. D. Stewart) said that the Iraqi must have simply assumed that his degree would take three years. It was usual for overseas students to start with a preliminary course until it was certain they could cope with the requirements at degree level, he said. This was done in the best interests of the student, Professor Stewart said. The other Iraqis, all doing post-graduate work, were on a similar system.

Professor Stewart said that he was disappointed to see the Iraqi student drop out. as he was when any student did. He knew of other foreign students who had had to return home, unable to make the cultural adjustment, but not in recent years. About 20 nationalities were represented among students at Lincoln this year, and a second counsellor had recently been appointed to help deal with any problems, he said. Professor Stewart acknowledged one “gap” in services to foreign students; a lack of accommodation for married couples. The college knew of the hardship this caused some foreign students and wanted to do something about it, he said. Plans for married student flats were made last year, and an application for funds had been made to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Professor Stewart said.

The deputy principal (Professor R. H. M. Langer) said that the Iraqi student had been “pretty well looked after.” although like many other foreign students he had found the going “a bit rought to start with.” The Iraqi’s still studying at Lincoln were now doing reasonably well, he said. It was difficult to assess the standard of students until they actually arrived at the college. Professor Langer said. “There must. always be

an element of risk in bringing students from other countries to New Zealand. We can only check credentials and references, but we don’t know how they will fare until they are here,” he said.

Most students needed a few months to adjust and college staff were always as helpful as they could be. The student concerned may not have “given himself much time to come right,” Professor Langer said. Referring to housing, he said that the college wanted to provide for married students, but at present it simply could not do so. The Iraqi’s had been referred to the flatting bureau at Canterbury University, and as they had not got in touch with Lincoln again about housing it was assumed that they had found what suited them.

The student services officer at the University of Canterbury (Mr R. Mete Kingi) said that the Iraqi student had sought his help in February. However, he had been under pressure and had not found a suitable house until after he had lost touch with the student.

Mr Mete Kingi said that the Iraqi was determined to find a house at Lincoln; other locations were not “suitable.” Money was not a problem.

He said that the Iraqi’s needed specialised help, which he was unable to give.

Mr Mete Kingi said that he dealt with students of many nationalities, but the cultural barrier with the Iraqi’s posed a big

challenge. Counsellors with specialised training were needed to help students coming to New Zealand from the Middle East, he said.

The Ministry .of Foreign Affairs had leamt a lot from the episode, its spokesman said. Many of the problems had been caused by the Iraqi Government’s failure to ensure that the students arrived in time for adequate language tuition before starting their study. “We are acutely conscious of language and the skills required for the classroom.” he said. “No matter what their background is, some cultural adjustment to New Zealand life will be needed. We will do our best with intensive language courses.” The spokesman said that he hoped the Iraqi authorities would draw the right inferences from several diplomatic exchanges with Bagdad. In addition, the Ministry had asked that the Iraqi Ministry for Higher Education treat the case of the returned student with sympathy. “We are still developing ties with the Middle East, and it is generally desirable that students come here and return with a better idea of what New Zealand is abqut,” the spokesman said.

The issue may be pursued with a visit to Iraq by one of the student counsellors at Lincoln. Plans may be made for a counsellor to stop briefly in Bagdad on his way home from study leave in Europe later this year.