With a 67 per cent rise in Indian enrolments in the 2014-15 academic year, Indians comprise majority of international students in New Zealand.
Thanks to a thriving Indian student population, Indian festivals such as Diwali and Holi are celebrated at various institute campuses.
“India is one of New Zealand’s key export education markets. New Zealand offers an excellent space for students to excel and explore their academic skills. The recent devaluation of the New Zealand dollar is offering Indians affordable yet global quality of education,” New Zealand High Commissioner to India Grahame Morton said.
While conventional subjects like management, IT, engineering, accounting are the most favoured subjects among Indians, There is also keen interest in niche and vocational courses like media, design, aviation and sports management.
“Out of 1,10,000 international students in 2014, more than 20,000 students are from India and there was an increase of over 8,000 students. The number of Indian students in New Zealand is almost similar to that in the U.K. We expect to see an increase of 20 per cent in 2015,” said Education New Zealand’s (ENZ) regional director (South and South East Asia) Ziena Jalil.
ENZ is the nation’s government body for international education and promotes the country as an education destination. The agency will be organising education fairs in August in three cities — Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi — to help students and their parents obtain information about the study programmes and immigration procedures. A total of 25 institutes will be participating in the fair.
Highlighting the ease of student visa applications, Nathanael Mackay, Area Manager, Immigration, said it takes only 10 working days to get a visa to New Zealand and students can avail themselves of easy online immigration services.
“There has been an increase by 95 per cent in student visa applications. Student visa holders get 20 hours work permit during their academic course and full working hours during holidays. Additionally, a partner of a post graduate student can also apply to join him/her onshore. While most of the Indian students hail from Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana, of late we have been getting students from Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka,” Mackay said.
By October this year, a new English language assessment test for applicants will be rolled out which will conform to other English language tests like IELTS and TOEFL, Morton added.
Students can also themselves avail of several scholarships like the Prime Minister’s Sports Scholarship, Prime Minister’s Scholarship, Commonwealth Scholarships, besides individual scholarships offered by universities, Jalil said.
