Good morning all.

Thank you Rob for inviting me to speak at your annual general meeting.  I welcome the opportunity to meet with you again and to address your members.

It is now 20 years since English New Zealand was formed by a group of young entrepreneurs wanting to market New Zealand internationally as a preferred destination for English language students.

Twenty years on, I think we can all agree that marketing New Zealand as an export education destination of choice continues to be vitally important as we face increasingly fierce global competition for international students.  And it is easy to see why.  The revenue generated from export education is immense — around $2.3 billion each year.  Most importantly, it also generates around 32,000 jobs in the industry and elsewhere.

The Government has pitched its focus squarely on growing the economy and I’m sure everyone here today is only too aware of the challenging fiscal environment we currently face.  Recovery will be built on exports and investment, and not the debt and spending we saw over the past decade.

Immigration has an important role to play in supporting the Government’s economic growth agenda.  As Minister of Immigration, I am committed to exploring ways to better support the work you do to grow the export education industry.  If your businesses are going to be able to compete successfully it is essential that our immigration policies are effective and our services efficient.

Service Changes

I want to emphasise that the Government is committed to delivering policies and services that stimulate the growth of the export education sector. One key area which impacts on your business is Immigration New Zealand’s performance.

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, before we aggressively attacked timeliness, it was important that we addressed the quality of decision making – there’s no point in making bad decisions quickly.

Last year, after hearing concerns about 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 improving 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.

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 stretch of 90 percent processed in 25 days by June 2012.

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.

The drive to improve 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, 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.

To support market growth, we need the right resources in place to meet demand. In March I visited India and 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 determined to drive improvement in India. With New Dehli, it’s been taking 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 fraudulent applicants 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.

Policy/Legislative Changes

In the past year, we have also made a number of policy changes to make it easier for international students to study here and to stimulate the growth of the export education sector.

We made it easier for migrants to enrol in more short-term courses in any one year.

This means that more short-stay students are now expected to enrol here and this will provide a significant boost in revenue for many education providers.  Making it easier to study short-term will also help attract longer-term, full fee-paying students, and encourage more temporary migrants to study while they are here for other purposes.

In addition, we introduced a new ‘interim visa’ to enable students to continue studying when applying for visas to further their studies.

Christchurchrecovery

Even with these changes, there is still more that needs to be done to stimulate the growth of export education, especially with the recent Christchurch earthquakes.

I understand that many of your members are based in Christchurch and we know what a difficult time Christchurch businesses face.  Yet, of those whose businesses were located in the heart of what is now the red zone, five are now already up and running again.  Student numbers are of course nowhere near pre-earthquake levels, but there are reports of early recovery – a real achievement considering what happened in Christchurch.

One way in which the Government is looking to support sector growth is by introducing a new Crown entity to manage New Zealand’s international education promotion and offshore activities.

It will be operational in September this year, and Immigration New Zealand will be playing an active role in its operations.  Nigel Bickle, the head of Immigration New Zealand, will be an ongoing advisor to the Board.

Facilitating genuine students and restricting fraudulent providers

However, any growth in the sector has implications for immigration, particularly growth into high risk immigration markets. As demand grows, a central challenge will be how to prevent student visa fraud while making visa processes easier for genuine students.

For some students, I am aware that their primary intention is just to work and gain residence by whatever means is available.  Recent media reports, and direct feedback to me, indicate that some education providers enrol students who do not attend classes and are not capable of successfully completing their courses.

For an Association such as yours, which is committed to the highest professional standards, this sort of behaviour must be particularly galling.  It puts at risk your business and damages New Zealand’s reputation.

As you may be aware, Immigration New Zealand has been taking a strong stance against education providers who commit immigration offences.

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, last year I directed the Department of Labour to review immigration policies relating to student visas and students’ pathways to work and residence.  I am aware that many of you provided input last year into these reviews, and I would like to thank you for your contributions.

Student policy changes

To deal with the abuse of student visas by non-bona fide students and non-compliant education providers, from 25 July 2011 student visa applications will be subject to more scrutiny.  Students will be more rigorously assessed to ensure that they genuinely meet the prerequisites for the course, have sufficient access to funds for maintenance, and are studying at good quality education providers.

Student visa conditions relating to satisfactory attendance and progress will also be clarified.  This will ensure that both students and education providers are aware of their obligations.  Monitoring and compliance will also be improved.

These changes signal that the Government will not tolerate abuse of the immigration system by non-bona fide students and non-compliant education providers.

I know some of you here today are especially concerned about the requirement to have a two year qualification to be eligible for study to work visas.

The purpose of Study to Work policies, including the Graduate Job Search visa, is to ensure that New Zealand employers and industry have access to the skills and knowledge they need to grow by providing a pathway to skilled employment and residence for highly skilled graduates.

Research commissioned by Education New Zealand shows that New Zealand attracts a disproportionate number of certificate and diploma students compared to its competitors.  The Department of Labour’s research shows that migrants with lower level New Zealand qualifications are less likely to be in skilled employment, earn less, and are more likely to go back to full time study (as domestic students) than more highly qualified students.

The decision to require students to undertake a two-year academic qualification (with a minimum duration of 16 months) before they can be eligible for study to work visas has not been taken lightly by this government.  The changes announced last week target higher level students and move immigration incentives away from short, lower level qualifications.

The intent of these changes is to incentivise students to study for longer, thereby increasing export education revenue and other benefits associated with international education, and ensure that those students who choose to stay here are better positioned to take up genuinely skilled employment.

Pathways to work and residence

We are also introducing a second package of changes from 25 July 2011 to strengthen the incentives to study qualifications that have good employment outcomes.

I am aware from the Department’s research that many English language students transition into further tertiary study.  This second package of changes will incentivise these students to transition into longer, higher-level courses that have better employment outcomes and are likely to meet New Zealand’s skill needs.

This means that English language students have the potential to bring in significant export education earnings to New Zealand, as well as provide a springboard to further study, and potentially work and residence in New Zealand.

Conclusion

As a whole, these policy changes are designed to protect both individual businesses such as yours and the wider export education industry.

Export education is important to us all — it provides jobs and export earnings that are vital to the national economy.  As Minister of Immigration, I want to continue to ensure that both immigration policy and the quality of service provided by Immigration New Zealand better meets your needs.

Thank you.

(Source Beehive, J Coleman)