Government's date for international student return 'could cost billions'

Thursday, 25 November 2021

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announces the original plan to reopen New Zealand to the world in 2022, in November. (First published November 24)

Waiting until April to allow international students to return will put New Zealand at a big global “disadvantage” that could cost as much as $20 billion, Universities New Zealand chief executive Chris Whelan says.

The Government announced on Tuesday the border will reopen to all vaccinated international travellers, including international students, on April 30.

The reopening would occur in a “staged way”, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said. Details about this process have not been released.

New Zealand is falling behind the rest of the world in opening up to international students, sector leaders say.

Whelan said the country was taking “a lot longer than the rest of the world” to re-open to international students.

Universities New Zealand chief executive Chris Whelan said New Zealand was at a “big disadvantage” falling behind the rest of the world, and delaying a reopening could cost the country between $10 and $20 billion.

* Covid-19 vaccination will be mandatory for Victoria University halls of residence from next year

Lincoln University PhD student Karla Lopez Reyes was among the first of the 250 PhD students to be allowed to enter New Zealand. Video first published on February 26 2020.

* Half a year after 1000 international students were allowed into NZ, just 135 have arrived**

The Australian Government will allow vaccinated international students back into the country from December 1, and universities in Europe and America have started doing so too.

“Inevitably this puts us at a big disadvantage,” Whelan said. “We’ve got a lot of young people who are not going to put their lives on hold just to come to New Zealand, if they can get to Australia six months earlier and start their three or four-year degree programme.”

International students – including school students and tertiary students – contributed about $5 billion to the economy each year, he said.

Falling behind the rest of the world in a competitive market could delay the sector’s recovery for up to ten years – especially if the date was delayed further, he said. “We are talking about a hit in the order of $10 of $20 billion of economic activity that we didn’t foresee.”

Whelan said every international student comes for an average of 3-½ years, paying for fees, accommodation, entertainment and travel. And there was still “a great deal of uncertainty” about whether students would actually be allowed back in from April 30, or whether essential worker visas or tourist visas would come first.

“There’s been a lot of excitement yesterday from international students and from universities, around potentially re-starting international education, but in the cold light of day, we’ve suddenly realised that we don’t quite know what has been announced,” he said.

It takes five to six months for international students to sort visas, finances and living situations before they could come to the country.

“We need to be clear to students about the date students can definitely come, and we need to start telling them now.”

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said “specific decisions” were still to be made about when the border will reopen for international students.

In 2019, before the pandemic struck, 22,216 full-time international students had enrolled in universities in New Zealand – that dropped to 19,730 last year, and has fallen even further this year.

Whelan said about 14,000 international students remained in New Zealand universities in 2021, which was better than many anticipated.

The Government announced a border exemption for 1000 tertiary students in October, including for 400 pilot trainees, 300 students at degree level and 300 students at polytechnic or diploma level.

That was the only exemption granted so far, and many of those students would not start arriving until April or May, Whelan said.

Full-time international school students dropped from 14,000 in 2019 to about 4000 by the middle of this year.

By the beginning of 2022 there will only be between 1000-1500 international students at schools, Schools International Education Business Association chief executive John van der Zwan said.

He welcomed the April 30 date, but said students were already going to other countries.

“The pipeline is already essentially broken, so we are looking at the earliest possible date to rebuild that.”

Van der Zwan wanted to see more flexibility in home isolation schemes, because there had been concerns from Government that younger international students shouldn’t self-isolate alone.

Hipkins said there were still “specific decisions” to be made about border re-opening dates, and encouraged students wishing to study to start the process, so they could be ready when the border reopens.

“We will work through the detail closer to the time, but the crux of it is – this is certainty for the sector that international students will return next year,” Hipkins said.