Students from Malaysia feel less welcome’

Press, 1 April 1980, Page 3

Students from Malaysia feel less welcome’

PA Auckland Fewer Malaysian students are applying for entry into New Zealand universities because they feel less welcome here, according to the national co-ordinator of the Overseas Students Action Committee (Mr D. Ngieng).

The students were becoming increasingly “bitter and depressed” towards New Zealand, Mr Ngieng said yesterday. This was because of the admission policy, which required them to pay a $l5OO entry fee and pass the Language Achievement Test for Overseas Students (Latos) as well as the establishment of an annual quota system. Mr Ngieng’s comments were supported by an N.Z.P.A. report from Kuala Lumpur, where official sources said there had been a drop in students applying to New Zealand, while both Canada and Australia received more applications. Mr Ngieng said, “New Zealand was a popular choice for Malaysian students, especially those from the middle-income and lower-income groups. But the imposition of an entry

fee and the examination is putting an unfair burden on them.”

He said many students already in New Zealand were angry that members of their family or friends could not come here.

“They aYe very' depressed and bitter because their friends will now have to seek employment in Malaysia and because they no longer feel welcome in New Zealand,” said Mr Ngieng. He said that last year 40 per cent of the students who sat Latos had failed.

The report said the fee charged by New Zealand! was less than those charged by Canada and Australia. In spite of this, the number of applicants was continuing to Mr J. R. Caldwell, of the University Grants Committee in Wellington, confirmed yesterday that there was a drop in applications last year after the announcement of the new fee. Mr Caldwell did not believe this was because the students were not welcome in New Zealand, but because they had been offered better alternatives elsewhere.