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Why do Chinese students study in New Zealand and how
can they be helped to succeed?
Pam Malcolm
UNITEC Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
[email protected]
Anthony Ling
UNITEC Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
[email protected]
Carol Sherry
UNITEC Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
[email protected]
Abstract: In 2002, there were more than 80,000 international students in New Zealand
earning the country $1.7 billion. Education was the fourth largest export earner in New
Zealand. Among the 26,000 plus international students enrolled in tertiary education
providers at 31 July 2002, more than 50% were from China. However, the number of
students from China has decreased substantially since the middle of 2003 as a result of the
outbreak of SARS, negative media reports about Chinese students, and the strong New
Zealand dollar.
The purpose of this study is to find out why Chinese students chose to study in New Zealand,
and to identify what problems they have encountered during their study here.
It was found that Chinese students chose to study in New Zealand because they believe it is a
safe place, it is cheaper than the other countries, and because New Zealand is an English
speaking country. Chinese students expressed concern about the low interaction with New
Zealand students and considered socializing with local students as one of the key problems
they encountered. The use of English language in both the classroom and social contact
situation was also a common problem for them.
To address the concern of the increasing number of international students who do not have
English as a first language, UNITEC has launched a number of initiatives, including the
offering of tertiary study skills, language support and professional skills development classes.
Keywords: Chinese students; international students; full-fee paying students; New Zealand;
tertiary institution; education providers; studying destination.
Introduction
The international student market contributed an estimated $1 billion to the New Zealand
economy in 2001 (Evans, 2002). In 2002 the export education market continued to grow
significantly with more than 80,000 international students studying in New Zealand, which
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earned the country $1.7 billion and made education the fourth-largest export earner (Perrott,
2003).
Of the 80,000 plus international students, more than 39 percent were from China, closely
followed by South Korea (19.5%) and Japan (16.5%). (Perrott, 2003)
The increasing number of international students, the majority of whom are from China, has an
important implication for all educational institutions in New Zealand. It is important that
lecturers and academic managers are aware of why Chinese students choose to study in New
Zealand and what can be done by New Zealand tertiary institutes to make their study more
enjoyable and successful.
Research Objectives
With the increasing number of full-fee paying students from China, this research aimed to
answer the following questions, so as to assist educational providers to better meet the needs
of students:
• Why do Chinese students choose New Zealand as a studying destination?
• What are the objectives of their study?
• What problems have they encountered during their stay in New Zealand and
• What do they think that the educational providers can do to make their study easier and
more successful?
Limitation of the Research
The targeted respondents of the survey are those full-fee paying Chinese students studying
business at UNITEC.
The population size of this study is relatively small, given the total number of Chinese
students enrolled in public tertiary institutions in New Zealand.
Background
UNITEC was established in 1976 as Carrington Technical Institute. In 1987 the name was
changed to Carrington Polytechnic to reflect the wide range of courses that were offered. A
further name change in 1994 to UNITEC Institute of Technology sought to reflect that
UNITEC offered the academic rigour of a university together with the practical and technical
orientation of a polytechnic. A comprehensive range of courses from certificates to doctoral
degrees are offered at UNITEC. (UNITEC, 2003)
Research Methodology
The research for this paper was interpretive in nature as the authors were investigating why
students had decided to study in New Zealand and what could be done to improve their
learning experience.
Qualitative and quantitative primary data were collected from Chinese full-fee paying students
in both the New Zealand Diploma in Business (NZDipBus) and the Bachelor of Business
(BBus) programmes at UNITEC. In September 2001, eight students attended a focus group.
The responses to the focus group discussions lead to the formation of a questionnaire that was
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given to three groups of students. The first group of 27 students was students in at least their
second semester of study in the NZDipBus at UNITEC. This survey was done in early
October 2001. The questionnaire was altered slightly to simplify the data gathering process
and delivered to a second group of 52 students who were surveyed in their second week of
study in the NZDipBus at UNITEC in February 2002. In early April 2003, 93 students who
had been in New Zealand for one year or more, studying either the NZDipBus or the BBus,
completed the questionnaire.
There were five sections in the questionnaire. The first section collected personal
information about the students’ gender and age. The second section of the questionnaire
requested information from the students about their highest academic qualification before
applying to study business at UNITEC and the discipline of their highest qualification. The
third section related to issues concerning their choice of New Zealand as a place to study and
what problems students faced with their study at UNITEC. The final section asked students
how they had tried to improve their English and how they felt UNITEC could make their
study more successful.
Statistical information was obtained from student enrolment databases at UNITEC. Journal
articles, government web sites plus New Zealand and Chinese newspapers and periodicals
provided background information for this study.
Literature Review
Students from China
Statistics from the Ministry of Education reveals that there were 26,871 international students
enrolled in tertiary education providers at 31 July 2002, an increase of 9,214 from 31 July
2001. This number does not include international students enrolled in primary, secondary,
and English language schools. This followed a rise of more than 50% in July 2001 over the
previous year. Of these 26,000 plus international students, 80% are from Asia. Table 1 shows
the country of origin of these Asian students.
At the School of Accountancy Law and Finance at UNITEC, the number of international
students in 2003 was almost double that of 2002, with the majority of International students
coming from China.
However, according to education insiders, it was expected that the flow of language students
would drop by up to 50 per cent by the end of 2003 and worsen further in 2004 (Perrott,
2003). This may have a flow on effect to the number of international students enrolling in
New Zealand tertiary institutions.
Factors behind the downturn, as suggested by Perrott (2003) include:
• The SARS Virus encouraging parents to keep their children close to home.
• Lingering terrorist fears since the September 11 attack and the war in Iraq.
• The strengthening New Zealand dollar making the country more expensive.
• Negative reports in the Asian media over our attitude towards foreigners.
• Rising unemployment among Chinese graduates making tertiary qualifications less
desirable.
Although the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Beijing free of SARS, and has
now lifted its travel advisory warning against China, (Hui, 2003), according to Grant Fuller,
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the New Zealand Trade Commissioner, there has been a “significant falloff” in applications
from Chinese students. There were about 20,000 new visa applications in 2002 and he
estimated that there would only be 11,000 to 12,000 in 2003 (O’Sullivan & Perrott, 2004).
Reason for Increase in Chinese Students
Although the second half of 2003 saw a decrease in students from China, there was a very
rapid increase from 1999 to 2002 (Table 1). Light (2001) suggested that the combination of
increasing prosperity and lack of places in Chinese universities has resulted in the number of
Chinese students in New Zealand dramatically increasing during that period.
Table 1: Number of Foreign Fee Paying Students Enrolled in Formal Qualifications at Tertiary
Education Providers at 31 July 1999-2002 by Region of Origin
China
Korea
Japan
India
Malaysia
ASIA
1999
495
560
1,024
79
1,570
5,722
2000
2,177
756
1,054
230
1,252
7,669
2001
6,442
1,368
1,187
466
1,155
13,279
2002
13,683
1,678
1,294
1,163
894
21,601
New Zealand Ministry of Education, (2003)
Chinese students choose to come to New Zealand for a number of reasons. McKinlay (2002)
points out those important factors as including cost, New Zealand’s proximity to Asia, and the
use of English language. For many Asians, international study is an opportunity to improve
valuable English language skills.
A cost comparison shows that New Zealand is the cheapest country, amongst the five
favourable studying destinations for Chinese students.
Table 2 shows a comparison of cost of study for the five preferred studying destinations of
Chinese students.
Table 2: Comparison of Annual Cost of Study by Country
Tuition
Cost of Living
Total
NZ$ equivalent8
Cost higher than NZ
% over NZ
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
UK
£
7,800
5,250
13,0505
34,735
11,235
47.8%
USA
US$
21,5006
31,282
7,782
33.1%
Canada
C$
16,928
9,742
26,6707
28,989
5,489
23.4%
Australia
A$
10,3001
15,0003
25,300
28,046
4,546
19.3%
NZ
NZ$
13,5002
10,0004
23,500
RMIT
UNITEC
Immigration Australia
Education NZ
University of Birmingham, UK
San Francisco State University (average figure between $19,000 to $24,000)
University of British Columbia, Canada
All foreign currencies are converted into NZ dollar at rates prevailing on 7 February 2004
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Based on the exchange rates prevailing at the time of writing, UK is the most expensive
(47.8% higher than NZ), closely followed by the USA (33.1%), Canada (23.4%) and Australia
(19.3%).
The weakening of the US dollar makes studying in the United States now much cheaper. In
2002, the cost of study in the USA was 75.4% higher than New Zealand (Malcolm & Ling,
2002). Despite our strong dollar, New Zealand is still the cheapest place to study among the
five countries listed.
Other reasons that attract Chinese students include that New Zealand is seen as a safe place to
study (Middlebrook, 2001), and the opportunity to get a higher paid job when returning home
(Light, 2001).
Problems encountered by students
International students face more problems than their local peers. Research generally
indicates that international students suffer more psychological and social distress than
domestic students (Ward, 2001). Chataway and Berry’s (1989) study of Chinese students at a
Canadian university similarly found that the Chinese had more psychological, social and
health problems than the Canadian students.
The studies of Lin and Yi (1997), and Sarkodie-Mensah (1998) reported on problems outside
the classroom, such as culture shock, social isolation, financial difficulties, and wider issues
of immigration laws, accommodation, employment and depression.
Boonyanate and Simkin (1996) found that writing essays and reports in English and
understanding lecturers and students are some of the in-class problems. Samuelowics (1987)
concluded that one of the major problems faced by overseas students studying in Australia
was English language proficiency (Beaver & Tuck, 1999). A survey conducted by the
Educational Review Office also reports homesickness and making friends with New Zealand
students as the biggest problems of international students at both primary and secondary
schools (Evans, 2003).
Survey Results
Demographics
Gender
The gender distribution for the students surveyed in 2001 and 2002 was approximately equal
with female students accounting for 56% of the survey population. The number of female
students was disproportionately high in the 2003 survey, with more than three quarters of the
students female. At the time that the survey was conducted, 68% of students enrolled in
business at UNITEC were female.
According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Education, the gender mix of students
from China at 31 July 2002 is approximately equal (Ministry of Education, 2002). This leads
to the question whether female students are more interested in the accounting discipline,
resulting in more female students remaining after a year’s study. Further research may help
to provide answers to this.
Age Group
The majority of respondents to the surveys were in the 20 – 24 year age group.
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Highest qualifications before coming to UNITEC
For international students, to qualify for entry to the NZDipBus they must have graduated
from high school, and for the BBus, they must have completed at least one year at university.
As expected, therefore, the majority of students had a diploma qualification before enrolling at
UNITEC.
Table 3: Highest Previous Qualifications
2001 study
Number
Secondary school
Diploma
Master degree
Certificate Level
Bachelors
Others
Other - higher level
Number
3
18
1
-
Percent
11%
67%
4%
-
2002 study
Number
18
22
1
-
2003 study
Percent
35%
38%
2%
-
Number
24
48
1
11
7
1
1
Percent
25.8%
51.6%
1.1%
11.8%
7.5%
1.1%
1.1%
Discipline of Previous Qualifications
Accounting, marketing and management were the disciplines that most students had studied in
their previous qualifications (Table 4). This was expected as we thought that students who
had a tertiary qualification from another country would probably like to make use of that
previous knowledge and experience when extending their qualifications.
Table 4: Discipline of Previous Qualifications
Accounting
Marketing
Management
Finance
International trade
Information Systems
Engineering
Science
Arts
Other
2001
study
2002
study
2003
study
10
10
1
45
12
6
1
3
1
1
2
4
2
2
1
5
Why Choose to Study in New Zealand?
Students were given the option of indicating more than one reason for choosing to study in
New Zealand and given the opportunity of adding other reasons to the ones in the
questionnaire (Table 5). For each group of students surveyed, the safe environments, cheaper
fees as well as the opportunity to learn English were the three main reasons that the students
chose New Zealand as a studying destination.
Students surveyed in 2003 chose the safe environment as the most important. According to
Amnesty International, the “war on terror” has made the world more dangerous by curbing
human rights, undermining international law and shielding governments from scrutiny (Long,
2003). The September 11 2001 terrorist attack in New York, followed by the US-led war on
Iraq may have forced the parents, as well as the students to consider the safety aspects of the
country as an important determining factor in choosing a studying destination.
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Table 5: Why chose to study in New Zealand
2001 study
2002 study
2003 study
Reason
Number
%
Reason
Number
%
1. Learn
English
2. Safe
Environment
3. Cheaper
Fees
4. Easier to
get visa
5. Family or
friends here
6. Advertised
well at home
21
28.0
39
26.9
12
16.0
35
19
25.3
10
13.3
7
9.3
6
8.0
1. Learn
English
2. Safe
Environment
3. Cheaper
Fees
4. Easier to
get visa
5. Advertised
well at home
6. Family or
friends here
Reason
Number
%
58
26.3
57
25.5
3. Learn English
48
21.7
4. Easier to get
visa
5. Advertised well
at home
6. Family/friends
here
33
14.9
14
6.3
11
5.0
24.1
1. Safe
Environment
2. Cheaper Fees
24
16.6
18
12.4
18
12.4
11
7.6
Problems encountered
In the 2001 and 2002 study, speaking English was the most significant problem for students.
However, the students surveyed in 2003 who had studied in New Zealand for at least one
year, thought that socializing with Kiwi students was the most serious problem. Table 6 shows
students responses to the question: what problems have you encountered when studying in
New Zealand? Students were permitted to provide more than one response.
Table 6: Problems encountered by Students
2001 study
2002 study
Problem
Speaking
English
Accommodation
Number
19
Socializing with
NZ students
Food
Culture
11
18
1
1
Problem
Speaking
English
Socializing
with NZ
students
Accommod
ation
Culture
Homesick
Prejudice
Studying
Traffic
2003 study
Number
30
21
Problem
Socializing with
NZ students
Speaking
English
Number
50
45
20
Studying
34
1
1
Accommodation
Close
relationships
Money
Food
Family
Health
27
22
1
1
20
16
9
5
The results in this study re-affirm the survey results by Ward (2001) that international
students expect and desire contact with their domestic peers.
Ward’s (2001) study also reports that the amount of interaction between international and
domestic students is low. One possible explanation for the reluctance of contact, as
suggested by Beaver and Tuck (1999) is that the Kiwi students perceive that the language skill
of the international students slows down the rate of instruction that might have affected the
pace of their study.
Students also commented concern about the student mix. As one student points out, too many
Chinese students in the classroom means the opportunity to practice English is somewhat
limited.
How have you tried to improve your English?
Since learning English is one of the key objective of doing their study here, students were
asked how they have tried to improve their English.
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For all three groups surveyed studying English, watching TV and talking with friends who
didn’t speak the same first language were the main methods used by the students to improve
their English proficiency.
How could UNITEC make your study more successful?
We were interested to find out from students how they thought that UNITEC could make their
study better and more successful for them. Longer library opening hours, more language
support and English classes, more handouts, smaller classes and better student
accommodation were mentioned in significant numbers
The request for longer library opening hours was explained by one of the students. He said
that it was very difficult to study in student accommodation or in homestays. The UNITEC
library is open seven days a week and has extended weekend opening hours during exam
times.
What UNITEC has done
As the number of International students studying business increased, various initiatives were
introduced within the Schools that teach business courses.
Staff Training
At UNITEC we recognised that having high number of students who do not have English as a
first language places an added strain on lecturing staff. A number of staff training days have
focused on giving academic staff the opportunities to discuss common areas of concern and to
share best practice. Specialist English language lecturers have facilitated workshops aimed at
providing lecturing staff with skills to enhance their teaching practice.
Staff have been made aware of the educational methods Chinese students have previously
been exposed to and given advice as to how to make students more involved in their own
learning.
Student Support
The English language entry criteria for the New Zealand Diploma in Business at UNITEC is
Academic IELTS 6.0. For many years a separate class, (English as an Additional Language,
known as the EAL stream) has been offered to students with an Academic IELTS of 5.5.
These students study two courses in their first semester (rather than the standard three
courses) and receive extra class contact hours.
Since Semester 1, 2002, a number of initiatives have been introduced to support students in
the EAL streams. Tertiary Study Skills classes were introduced in Semester 2, 2002. In
semester 2, 2003, English for Business, a business focus course designed to improve students’
written and spoken English, was introduced. Additional language support tutorials have also
been offered to students since Semester 2, 2003.
In 2004 the support offered to students has been extended. A pilot Professional Skills
Development course has been developed and delivered to students at the first, second and
third years of their business study to assist them to develop the necessary competencies in
information gathering, information processing, information transmitting and working with
other students.
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The Faculty of Business at UNITEC is committed to small class sizes for International
classes. The pressure that students and lecturers are under when they do not have a common
first language is recognised. Therefore class sizes are kept to a maximum of 30. The smaller
class size is designed to encourage students to be more interactive with their peers and the
lecturer.
In addition to academic staff office hours, all students enrolled in the NZDipBus or BBus
programmes have access to clinics for core papers.
Conclusion
Despite the downturn in late 2003 and 2004, New Zealand is still host to large numbers of
international students from China.
The top three reasons why Chinese students choose to study in New Zealand are that New
Zealand is seen as a safe place to study, New Zealand is comparatively cheaper than other
preferred study destinations and for the opportunity to learn English.
In this study, students considered socializing with Kiwi students, speaking English, studying
in the New Zealand environment and finding suitable accommodation were the main
problems they encountered during their stay here.
In response to concerns of the high numbers of students who do not have English as a first
language, UNITEC has launched a number of initiatives, including the offering of Tertiary
Study Skills classes for international students, a credit bearing English for Business course,
language support classes and Professional Skills Development classes.
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