Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you again at your conference.

Export education is an industry that has the potential for major growth, and has been identified as such by the Prime Minister. As a Government, we are working across portfolios to identify ways to better support the industry.

As I am sure you are aware, the revenue generated from export education is significant, injecting over $2.3 billion of foreign exchange each year into our economy.  Most importantly, it also supports around 32,000 jobs. Auckland is crucial to the success of the industry, with our region hosting 57,000 international students in 2010.

As well as generating revenue from tuition fees and other expenses, many international students also stay here and go on to contribute to our skilled workforce.  These former students are well-positioned to settle here successfully, and can help drive economic growth through increased productivity and innovation in the labour market.

From a wider international education perspective, international students also contribute to research and innovation at higher education providers.  They also enrich the learning and teaching experiences on your campuses by introducing international perspectives.

I want to emphasise that the Government is committed to delivering policies and services that stimulate the growth of the sector here in Auckland as well as of course, across the rest of the country.

When I spoke to you last June, you expressed your concerns about the need for the Government to better support and grow the export education sector.  In particular, you expressed your frustrations about delays in Immigration New Zealand’s visa processing.

I want to assure you that your concerns were taken extremely seriously.  Timeliness of decision making has to be a major focus and for the majority of Immigration New Zealand customers this is the key measure of the service’s performance. However it was important that INZ first got the quality of its decisions right first- there’s no point in making bad decisions quickly.

Immigration New Zealand’s old target for student applications was 95 percent of decisions to be made within 60 days, but global reporting of targets over extended time periods was masking the true performance of the service and hiding where the real problems were.

In our session last year, it became apparent that neither students nor institutions were receiving the service they expected, and the discussion prompted a hard look at the performance of INZ in the student area.

After hearing about your concerns with student visa processing times, particularly in the Palmerston North branch, I instructed Immigration New Zealand to take immediate steps to clear the backlog.

This involved implementing an action plan to lift service standards, which included increasing resources, and enhancing existing processes.

At the end of April 2010, there were 6600 applications on-hand at the Palmerston North branch. At the end of April 2011 the on-hand figure has almost been halved to 3420. Excluding applications with health character or policy issues, Palmerston North is currently processing 96 percent of applications within 30 days – well within the target of 80 percent in 30 days.

Today I can confirm that INZ’s overall performance in processing student applications has improved over the past year. As at March 2011, 89 percent of student applications were being processed on average in 30 days.

There will be continuous downward pressure on targets- 90 percent of all applications to be processed within 30 days by the end of June 2011 and a further reduction of 90 percent processed in 25 days by June 2012.

The department’s performance is improving but there’s still more work ahead. However what’s good is that the mechanisms are in place to ensure it continues to make progress.

Bear in mind though that the pressure on the department will increase if we are to make the industry succeed. There will be more applications, and the challenge for INZ is how to increase services in a fiscally constrained environment.

Immigration New Zealand is also upping its game internationally, especially in the key Chinese and Indian markets. Expanding these markets will help the industry grow into a $5 billion dollar a year export earner.

But to support a growing market, we need the right resources in place to meet demand. In March I opened a new Mumbai immigration office. The first visa officers have been hired and are undergoing training so we can expect to see improved processing times in India over the coming year.

To address the performance issues in New Dehli, high value and low-risk applications have been handled by the Bangkok office where on average student applications are being processed in 17 days. In China student applications are being processed on average in 18 days.

We are continuing to drive improvement in India. With New Dehli, it takes 93 days on average to make a decision, but we have moved to remedy this. The Mumbai branch, once fully operational will reduce processing times. New Dehli though has experienced an almost 50 percent increase in demand with the number of applications rising over two years from 6040 to 8900.  Compounding this is the fact 77% of these applications are declined because the applications are from people who are not genuine students or the applications are fraudulent.

To rectify this and to reduce red tape and quicken processing times, we’re looking at changing how we deal with applications in India.

We’re seeing what other jurisdictions do, particularly in the India market, for example more succinct written communications; declining fraudulent applications outright and banning the applicant from reapplying and working more closely with accredited institutions to fast-track genuine students.

Immigration New Zealand is also conducting a review of health screening services to see if we can sensibly eliminate bureaucracy by taking a more risk-based approach to screening applicants. As a doctor, my view is that very few people under 40 are likely to place a burden on our health system because of an existing health condition. I would like to see a system where we place much more onus on students and their families to make sure they are of good health when they come here, the quid pro quo being that we can run a much faster application process.

We’ve already extended the validity of health certificates for fee paying students from two years to three years and we’re extending it further for PhD students from July 2011. There is more progress to come.

Immigration Business Development Programme

At a broader level, Immigration New Zealand is working towards significantly improving its service delivery over the next two years.  This includes a programme to improve the quality of visa decisions made.

Decision-making is Immigration New Zealand’s core business and it’s critical that it is done well.

Latest figures show good and adequate decisions have increased from around 71 percent in mid-2009 to its current mark of 87 percent.  Poor and questionable decisions are down from over 29 percent in mid-2009 to 13 percent in early 2011.

This improved performance is being noticed by Immigration New Zealand’s customers.

Over the past two years employer satisfaction has increased from 70 percent to 90 percent and overall client satisfaction has risen from 68 to 80 percent.

Senior representatives from Immigration New Zealand will continue to work closely with export education industry representatives at both strategic and operational levels to ensure we stay ahead of any issues affecting the industry as they arise.

Policy/Legislative Changes

In the past year, we have made a number of policy changes to stimulate both the growth of your business and the national economy.

Last year, we made it easier for temporary migrants to undertake short periods of study in New Zealand (including allowing school students to study short-term on visitor visas).

In February this year, we made several changes to make it easier for international students to study in New Zealand.  This includes:

• extending the validity of police and medical certificates from two to three years for fee-paying foreign students
• removing the requirement for all students to provide a guarantee of accommodation, while protecting the needs of younger students, and
• introducing a new ‘interim visa’ to enable students to continue studying when applying for visas to further their studies.

Challenges

However there are challenges in the sector. In spite of the global economic downturn, the market for genuine, high-level students remains keenly competitive.  New Zealand continues to face strong competition from other countries.  This competition will intensify as the world economy moves out of recession.

Overall foreign fee-paying students increased by three percent between 2009 and 2010 to 99,980.  We need to maintain momentum.

The Government is assisting this by introducing a new Crown entity to manage New Zealand’s international education promotion and offshore activities.  When operational in September this year, this entity will help develop the international education sector, focussing on promotion and marketing of New Zealand education offshore and providing better support for international students.

The Department of Labour was involved in the development of the Crown Entity, and will continue to play an active role in the operations. Nigel Bickle, will be an advisor to the Board.

Facilitating genuine students and pathways

Any growth in the sector however has implications for immigration, particularly growth into high risk immigration markets.  We need to be able to facilitate the entry of genuine students, while screening out those who see a student visa as nothing more than a shortcut to living and working here.

Unfortunately some education providers have enrolled students who do not attend classes, are not capable of successfully completing their courses, and are achieving poor learning outcomes.

This affects our reputation as a high quality study destination, and our ability to attract more genuine students.  It also poses risks that some students who complete qualifications in New Zealand do not genuinely have the skills we need, but are taking up work and residence opportunities.

Policy Changes

Well we’re not going to allow bad providers and fraudulent students to put our whole export education industry at risk.

In the last two years, the processing of student visa applications has been suspended for some private providers, including some prior to their closure by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

To preserve our reputation as a high quality study destination, while ensuring we attract students who have the potential to contribute their skills to the labour market, last year I directed the Department of Labour to review immigration policies relating to student visas and students’ pathways to work and residence.

Many of you provided input last year into these reviews, and I would like to thank you for your valuable feedback.  Today I can announce the outcome of these reviews.

Student policy changes

To address those applications from people who we believe do not have a genuine intent to study here in New Zealand and non-compliant education providers, from 25 July 2011 student visa applications will be subject to more scrutiny.  This will include:

• A more rigorous assessment of student visa applications to ensure students genuinely meet the prerequisites for the course
• Ensuring students genuinely have sufficient access to funds for maintenance, and are studying at good quality education providers
• Clarifying student visa conditions relating to satisfactory attendance and progress to ensure students and education providers are aware of their obligations, and to ensure better monitoring and compliance.

As a package, these changes signal that the Government will not tolerate abuse of the immigration system by non-bona fide students and non-compliant education providers.

At the same time, we need to make it easier for genuine students to study here, so we are relaxing some visa requirements to facilitate genuine students.

This includes:

• extending the validity period of police and medical certificates for PhD students, their partners, and dependants
• making it easier for work visa holders to formally train as part of their job by removing the requirement to obtain a variation of conditions, and
• ensuring that the definition of full-time study is consistent across different education providers for the same or similar courses.

I have also asked officials to look at whether access to student visas and work rights should be linked to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority’s quality assurance system.  While I am aware that work rights may be a draw card for many students, I am not satisfied that, in the current environment, enough has been done to weed out non-bona fide students and education providers that may take advantage of such a policy.

Pathways to work and residence

As mentioned earlier, the changes aim to ensure we increase the quantity of genuine students, including those who transition to work and residence.

I am aware that some students opt for the quickest and easiest route to residence through studying the shortest eligible courses available.  This is a problem because these students may not genuinely have the skills New Zealand needs to increase economic growth.

To address these issues, a second package of changes is being introduced from 25 July 2011 to strengthen the incentives to study qualifications that have good employment outcomes.

In short, these changes target higher level students and move immigration incentives away from short, lower level qualifications.  The changes will incentivise students to study for longer, thereby increasing export education revenue and other benefits associated with international education, and ensure students are well-positioned to contribute to productivity gains and innovation.

These two packages support the Government’s objective of positioning New Zealand as a high quality study destination for genuine students, and ensuring those who stay here genuinely have the skills we need.  This benefits your industry, and New Zealand’s wider economic objectives.  A high level summary of the key changes is being announced publicly this morning on the Immigration NZ website.  Details of all of the changes are yet to be finalised, but are expected to be available on the Immigration New Zealand website in early July.

Conclusion

Immigration’s job in supporting export education and the economy is a critical one.  Along with facilitative policy, we need a world-leading immigration service that makes consistent, high-quality decisions in a timely and efficient manner.

Immigration New Zealand is headed in that direction and good service delivery can yield real economic gains that will benefit us and all those who come to visit, study, work and settle here.

Thank you.

(Source Beehive, J Coleman)