Big education role for N.Z., says Goff

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 6

Big education role for N.Z., says Goff

As an English-speaking country in the AsianPacific region, New Zealand has a strong advantage in becoming a main provider of education services for overseas students, said the Associate Minister of Education, Mr Goff, in Christchurch last evening.

There were now 20 private English language colleges in New Zealand registered with the Education Department to enrol overseas students, he said.

Building had started on a $23 million international college in Palmerston North which by 1991 would cater for 500 Japanese students annually.

Legislation scheduled for this year would allow education institutions to provide education services to overseas students on a full-fees basis.

Mr Goff noted the upsurge in students going abroad to study.

"World-wide there are more than one million students doing full-time tertiary courses outside their home countries,” he said. The international goodwill fostered at a personal level through these exchanges was of real value. ■ :

Gaining a 1 per cent share of all students studying abroad would give New Zealand $lOO million in foreign exchange earnings. The growth in the number of overseas students coming here would provide employment opportunities. Education institutions would have a source of revenue and there would be spin-offs for tourism.

Mr Goff said the Southern Cross Language Institute, the graduation ceremony of which he was attending, was a good example of the benefits of increased student numbers.

During the last year students there had spent $420,000. Twenty five parents and teachers from Japan had visited students at the institute. Two former students had returned on tours. • ,

Next month a delegation would market New Zealand in Japan as an education centre.