Calls to make education ‘more affordable’ for Pacific island students – Stuff

When Finance Minister Grant Robertson delivers the Budget today, his last before Octobers election, he will announce close to $400 million will go towards schools, and that the Government is committed to building hundreds more classrooms.

While Pacific island leaders welcome the move, they want New Zealand to review its "sky-high" education fees for their students studying in Aotearoa.

There are 101 Pacific island children out of 5271 international students enrolled in schools across New Zealand as of April 12.

Data for tertiary students for the same period is yet to be released but 21,915 Pacific people were enrolled in universities, private training establishments (PTEs), Te Pkenga, wnanga and workplace training in 2022.

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The Government said its zero-fee policy (Fees Free) is for first-year students only.

For a student visa, applicants are required to provide evidence that they have at least NZ$20,000 or NZ$17,000 to cover living expenses for their first year of study.

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Pacific island leaders want a review of New Zealands tertiary education fees, with an emphasis on reclassifying international Pacific students as domestic students.

Tonga's Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni said there were different fee structures for domestic and international students and this should change.

He said Pacific students were on the international list, and they had to pay higher fees to be able to access higher education in both Aotearoa and Australia.

Education Minister Jan Tinetti said students from the Pacific represented one in every 40 international students with 32% from Fiji, Tonga (26%), Papua New Guinea (14%) and Samoa (9%).

In a statement, Tinetti said around half of the Pacific students were in universities, with one in six enrolled in private training establishments (PTEs) and a third in polytechnics and wnanga.

Between 2016 and 2019, there were 495 Pacific nationals undertaking tertiary education and supported by a Manaaki scholarship 33% of all international students.

That means that there were 1000 students a year from Pacific nations, privately funded or financed by awards other than through the Manaaki scheme (some will be funded by family, employer, by charities or scholarships other than from the government), Tinetti said.

At the recent Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) in Auckland, concerns were raised with Tinetti about the sky-high fees.

She said one of the primary objectives of the meeting was to define what empowering education means for Pacific people and societies.

Since April 12, 101 Pacific students out of 5271 internationals are enrolled in schools across the country, according to the Education Ministry Te Thuhu o te Mtauranga.

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Tongas Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni wants New Zealands sky-high education fees for Pacific island students to fall.

Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Auckland both estimated living costs at $20,000-$27,000 each year, with Otago University in Dunedin at $18,000-$21,000.

Annual fees for state schools start at about $11,000 for primary schools and $14,000 for secondary schools. Annual fees for private primary and secondary schools start at about $25,000.

Hu'akavameiliku said fees at universities in New Zealand and Australia were "too high for Pasifika.

"Our students are paying the same fees as other international students, say from Asia or Europe," he said.

Tinetti said the Government supports education for Pacific students through the International Development Cooperation programme and through the Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships programme.

They allowed students to study in a New Zealand or a Pacific institution, she said.

The New Zealand education system is not currently funded to support tertiary education for non-New Zealand citizens and residents.

For work-based learning, Fees Free covers the student and employer's fees for training and assessment for the first 24 months of any eligible work-based programme.

But to be eligible for Fees Free, while enrolled in work-based learning in 2023, applicants need to meet the residency and prior study and training criteria.

Fiji govt

Pacific heads of education discuss the challenges facing the sector in the region.

Fiji's Education Minister Aseri Radrodro said Pacific countries had been hit hard by climate change and disasters including cyclones, Covid-19 and a cost of living crisis.

He urged New Zealand and Australia to work together with the island states to "address these issues that we are confronted with daily".

Kiribati Education Minister Alexander Teabo said its 33 islands stretched across 3 million square kilometres of ocean which made it logistically hard to provide education there.

The Pacific Islands Forum said in a statement, "without education to drive economic growth, the island nations will remain dependent on others to finance development goals".

Hu'akavameiliku also raised the issue with Foreign Affairs officials, urging New Zealand and Australia to provide a pathway similar to the Pacific work access category, which would make education more affordable for Pasifika.

Tinetti said people from New Zealands realm countries the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau have all the rights of a New Zealand citizen, including the right to live in Aotearoa to enrol as domestic students in tertiary education.

They pay domestic student fees, can be returned as domestic students in enrolment returns, generate government tuition funding entitlements and have access to the New Zealand student financial support system student loans and student allowances.

Tinetti said reclassifying international Pacific students as domestic students would have a fiscal cost, given the Government subsidises the majority of the cost of tertiary study for domestic students.

Any change to these settings would need to be considered through future Budget processes, she said.

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Calls to make education 'more affordable' for Pacific island students - Stuff