SIR Peter Jackson, director and producer of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ trilogies, has aptly described his birth country — New Zealand (NZ) — as not a small country but a large village.
New Zealand, with a population 4.5 million and spread across a land mass of 270,034 sq km, is a land of enchanting beauty where the scenery is breathtaking and its people charming and sweet.
It is one of the rare places in the world where different racial origins and cultures are embraced and celebrated with much enthusiasm instead of being seen as a divisive issue. Spectacular scenery can, of course, be found in many parts of the world, but it is the people who make a place special and different.
There is no place quite like NZ where warmth radiates from the smiles of the people and the amiability in their eyes. Kiwis somehow exude the beautiful quality of provincial folk — simple, caring and helpful. Yet, when one looks around, one notices it is also a country dotted with modern cities adorned with the latest architectural designs and well laid-out settlements, equipped with all necessary amenities and facilities across the board.
Visitors will soon discover that underneath the modern buildings and edgy scientific research, traditional values remain deep-rooted and are still effective as the unwritten rules that bind the different communities together and guide the society’s future. It is a country which may be very urban in its appearance, but deep in its heart, it is a big village. Perhaps that is why Jackson has described the Land of the Long White Cloud as a large village.
A safe society
When a petty crime or a road accident, such as the one that killed a five-year-old child, could make it onto the front page of a national daily, it speaks volumes of a safe society that does not tolerate crime as well as human negligence, which might lead to the loss of life.
The country may be considered quite laid-back compared to cities such as London, Tokyo or even Kuala Lumpur, but if the child’s demise instantly prompted the imposition of additional road safety rules, no one could claim that the Kiwis are easy on themselves when it comes to public safety.
Most parents would shudder at the reported severity of the ‘soft’ drugs problem commonly found among university students globally. During a recent study visit to seven of the eight NZ universities, organised by Education New Zealand (ENZ) for representatives from the Malaysian and Indonesian media from March 1-7, the question on the prevalence of drugs in NZ’s tertiary institutions came up.
The answer offered was simple and direct: “Yes, the problem exists but only a small number of students are involved.”
It was an honest answer. What was more impressive was the honest and transparent admission that “the problem exists” and the moral responsibility to own up when the question was raised by the ENZ-sponsored media team. There was no attempt to sweep the problem under the carpet.
NZ has been rated as the third safest country to live in the world (2013 Global Peace Index). In terms of corruption, its 2014 Corruption Perception Index (by Transparency International) showed it is the second least corrupt country globally.
Apart from being a safe country, its biggest city Auckland has been ranked the third best place to live in the world while its capital, Wellington, the 13th, according to Mercer’s 2012 Quality of Living Survey.
If one were to find fault, perhaps NZ’s most telling physical fissure would be its direct situation above a seismic fault line. That aside, Mother Earth has blessed the country with a safe natural environment where there are no deadly creatures such as poisonous snakes on land and sea, or man-eating tigers or lions up in the forested mountain.
As a nation constantly maintaining its security and safety, New Zealand already has a prerequisite to become an education hub in the Australasia region. Being a civil society where life is much cherished, and the daily living still governed by traditional values such as integrity, tolerance and dignity, the country has earned its right to tell parents or educators the world over that — your children or students will be safe with us while receiving a world-class education.
Government initiative
Data from 2011 studies by the Institute for Statistics of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) showed a big jump in the number of international students. From 2005 to 2009 alone, there was an increase of 1.1 million — from 2.6 million to 3.7 million.
With international education being the country’s fifth income-earner, NZ has come up with a Leadership Statement for International Education to chart its education direction in an attempt to reap the most benefits from international education.
The 2011 Statement pointed out that as international education has been an effective tool to sustain NZ’s economy, and also a social link to grow with the rest of the world, funding was emphasised to ensure the goals set were achieved through competition of world-class quality.
For NZ to achieve its goals, among some clearly spelt out strategies is the doubling of international post-graduate students (in addition to those at PhD level) — from 10,000 to 20,000. This initiative has, in fact, been implemented since 2011. There have also been attempts to increase the transition rate from study to residence for international students with bachelor’s degree level qualifications.
To NZ, international students are not only its economic and social links to the world, but the young, vibrant and innovative students are also potential migrants needed to invigorate the country’s future development.
Apart from funding, immigration policies have been relaxed to encourage the entry of students into high quality courses in an attempt to create genuine skilled workers for the market place.
There are eight universities in New Zealand — University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology (AUT); University of Waikaito (Hamilton); Massey University (Palmerston North), Victoria University (Wellington); University of Canterbury (Christchurch); Lincoln University (Christchurch) and University of Otago (Dunedin).
The research carried out in NZ universities is as good as any university worldwide. All the eight universities are ranked among the top 3 per cent in the world by the Quacquarell Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, according to ENZ government and partners team general manager John Goulter.
As head of ENZ, a national establishment set up to market, promote and develop international education to all countries in the world, particularly Asia, Goulter said the NZ government’s effort to advance international education started much earlier — about 20 years ago.
“The government has been working in various ways to try to attract students to come here and also to develop and deliver education services which can be provided by many other countries around the world.
“It’s certainly true we and the entire NZ government have quite a focus on Asean countries. At the moment, we really like to strengthen ties with the countries across the Asean region,” Goulter said.
As 2015 is NZ’s 48th anniversary, ENZ will hold promotional activities and initiate government-to-government visits among Asean countries to raise NZ’s profile. On a whole, there are constant efforts to make NZ a better place for students, businessmen and visitors.
“We come out in a lot of surveys as a business-friendly and visitor-friendly sort of place with low level of corruption. Life is really easy in NZ — that is one of the attractions for coming here. The experience of living in a small, friendly and accessible country is quite a different experience compared to other countries,” said Goulter.
International students will find a welcoming spirit and global experience in New Zealand.
Sense of pride and belonging
There is optimism the government’s goal to attract more international students will be attained as it appears to be embraced and accepted by all — at the grassroots among individuals and further up to establishments such as universities or local councils.
City councils work closely with the universities in their areas to promote education apart from providing a conducive learning and living environment for students. Local authorities such as the Dunedin City Council and the Christchurch City Council even appoint officials to handle international student affairs and market international education. With such unflinching support, universities in different cities try to offer different incentives to attract foreign students.
For example, the Palmerston North City Council offers free public transport to all its residents, including foreign students. To most foreign students or their parents, this is a bonus as it means saving on the daily commute.
The City Councils of Christchurch and Dunedin both have a free water policy whereby no one living within the councils’ jurisdictions has to pay water bills. This must mean a lot to the international students in both South Island cities as they readily acknowledged it to the ENZ-sponsored media team who met them during their study tour.
Like the local councils, each university is proud of its traditions and the courses it offers.
“Once you have visited our university, you don’t have to visit other universities any more,” a university official stated with a naughty twinkle in the eyes.
Yet, through the statement, one can sense the healthy competition among the universities (or cities) in their attempts to attract foreign students. They create their own niches and new programmes relevant to present global needs so as to stand out among their competitors.
Dunedin is, perhaps, the best example of a university city that views its achievements in turning out high quality graduates with a personal sense of pride and belonging. Last November, after 13 months of planning, this principal city of the Otago Region beat 50 competitors to win the Chorus Gigatown contest.
A gigatown is a town that will be provided with high speed Internet — one gigabyte per second or 100 times faster than home broadband, making it the fastest Internet in the Southern Hemisphere.
Dunedin would not have been able to attain its gigatown status without zealous migrants such as Jason Leong, the co-founder of PocketSmith, a company developing web-based personal finance software with hundreds of thousands of users in 190 countries.
Leong, a Malaysian, and one of those who responded to the challenge to help obtain gigatown status for Dunedin, believes a high speed Internet service is essential to be better connected to the rest of the world.
But what speaks louder is his love for Dunedin and his sincerity in trying to make visitors understand how wonderful the place is, and how worthwhile it will be to study in the second largest city in the South Island where immigrants from Scotland first settled in the 19th century.
Already an NZ permanent resident, Leong regards Dunedin as home and as such, he feels he has every responsibility to help make it a place the residents can continue to be proud of.
Leong is not the only one as it is generally the attitude of the residents of each NZ city to be proud of their place of residence and to speak well of it.
There is broadly a positive vibe about the people — both locals or permanent residents. They will readily tell visitors how great NZ is and how much foreigners are welcome to be part of their community.
“If you talk to anyone of us who live in Christchurch, we won’t want to live anywhere else. Many of us have travelled around the world; we have lived in bigger cities, we have lived in smaller cities but Christchurch always has some magic to draw us to come back,” said University of Canterbury international relationships director Bob Korzeniowski.
“NZ has it all to draw international students. Inwardly, there is a great sense of belonging while outwardly, there is a welcoming open spirit to make foreigners feel important and well-accepted as what international students are looking for.”
He added: “There is nothing less than a global experience and a sense of being welcomed and respected.”
Doctorate fee
What has been most attractive about NZ education is the fact that all its universities charge international PhD students domestic rates. Converting that policy into dollars and cents means at least three times less in terms of tuition fees for a doctorate degree. This might be the main reason why many governments, including Malaysia’s, and full-fee PhD students choose NZ as their education destination.
“Every week, I get a few applications to do PhDs in Auckland. Unfortunately, we can’t cope with them any more — so we have to be selective,” said University of Auckland computer systems engineering Prof Zoran Salaic.
Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) is among the educational institutions that have been sending many sponsored doctorate students to do research studies in NZ universities due to the comparatively lower tuition fees.
At the University of Auckland, the ENZ media team met quite a few students, sponsored by Mara and the Ministry of Education.
Ermeey Abdul Kadir is a PhD student in electrical and electronic engineering. As Ermeey has his family with him in NZ, he has more financial commitments than fellow Malaysian PhD student Kaiyisah Hanis Mohd Azmi, who is in the same department and also sponsored by Mara.
Though both Ermeey and his wife are sponsored by the Ministry of Education, the funding is tight because they have an eight-year-old daughter attending primary school in Auckland. However, Ermeey has been able to make ends meet because of special financial aid from the university.
“For our family, we get funding from the university. It’s called press account only available for those doing research. It amounts to NZ$2,900 per year and we are supposed to use it for conferences, field trips and purchasing of electronic components. It helps a lot,” he said.
Apart from government-sponsored students, the policy of charging domestic fees for PhD students has also attracted self-sponsored full-fee students such as Fiona Yeoh.
Yeoh, who is in her third year of research in computer processor design (electrical engineering), came to NZ because of its relatively cheaper doctorate fees. For a self-sponsored student like her, looking for cheaper accommodation and food options have been some of the ways to ease the financial burden.
As the latest addition of NZ universities with its ideal location in Auckland, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) has the fastest growing enrolment in NZ.
Known as an outward looking and relevant institution, AUT has been able to engage with current and future issues of industry, business and community as well as the wider issues that confront NZ’s economy and society. Statistics show it has the highest graduate employment rate among NZ universities.
Last year, AUT was ranked in the top 51 to 100 institutions in the world in accounting and finance in the QS World University Rankings by subject. AUT is the second largest university in NZ. Out of its 25,000 students, 4,000 are international students from more than 90 countries.