International Education in New Zealand: New Applications for “№8 Wire”

[Also see The Pie News, https://blog.thepienews.com/]

In 19th-century New Zealand, №8 wire was the preferred wire gauge for sheep fencing and so farms often had rolls of it on hand. As it was plentiful when other materials were not, the wire would be used inventively to solve mechanical or other structural problems. With a handy piece of №8 wire, it was said that one could just about fix anything. Over time, the idea of №8 wire came to represent the ingenuity, resilience and resourcefulness of New Zealanders and thus it entered the cultural lexicon as a symbol of the nation’s ability to improvise and adapt in order to solve problems. Today, New Zealand faces an array of more complex challenges, including declining fertility rates and the prospect of population decline, rapid demographic change, and the growth of economic inequality throughout the country. As if with a piece of №8 wire in hand, the nation’s policymakers and educational leaders have begun to reimagine international education as a viable strategy that can be repurposed to solve some of the country’s more pressing challenges.

 Although international education is generally discussed in relation to international student and scholar mobility, international partnerships and linkages, curriculum internationalization, and faculty engagement, to note only a few focal areas, international education is being framed in New Zealand as a dynamic industry in terms of export value, immigration, and as “supply chain management” to bolster the domestic workforce. The nation’s policymakers are positioning international education within a fragile eco-system wherein certain sectors of the economy would potentially collapse without the economic and workforce contributions of international students. According to Education New Zealand (ENZ), the nation’s governmental agency for international education, the roughly 130,000 international students that study in New Zealand generate $4.5 billion annually, making education the country’s 4th largest export industry. It is thus with little doubt that international students are welcomed as valued sources of knowledge, talent and skills that are increasingly essential to the viability of this eco-system.      

In August 2017, ENZ facilitated the 26th New Zealand International Education Conference (NZIEC), at which over 700 delegates from across the country and the world met to discuss international education as a means to deliver social, cultural and economic benefits to New Zealand. The prevailing focus of the conference was oriented toward enhancing collective efforts to more effectively recruit and support international students. Discussions centered on identifying new opportunities for growth and expansion of the industry and accordingly, a number of key themes seemed to emerge. The positive impact of international students on the New Zealand economy, for example, was a pervasive topic throughout the conference, but so too were conversations that suggested that international student mobility could be leveraged as a means to attract skilled immigrants to the country. Some views implied that international education could be strategically leveraged as a pathway to citizenship and thereby providing a potential solution to national concerns about population stagnation. Others proposed that international student flows could be redirected outside of Auckland to more rural locations that have experienced significant population declines due to urban migration and declining fertility. 

With such a broad acknowledgement of the importance of international education in contributing to a vibrant and prosperous New Zealand, it came as no surprise that conference delegates were similarly concerned with ensuring that international students have a high-quality experience while living and studying in New Zealand, or in other words, product protection. Echoing this sentiment, the nation’s policymakers have moved to develop an ambitious International Education Strategy for New Zealand that outlines the government’s vision for international education in 2025. The strategy promises to ensure that New Zealand continues to benefit from international education while safeguarding quality education and student well-being. Building on the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice, the government recently introduced New Zealand’s first International Student Wellbeing Strategy that introduces pastoral care requirements to ensure with certainty that host institutions are supporting and protecting their international students. ENZ is working concertedly to implement these strategies in partnership with the country’s universities and ITPs. Although this collective work is remarkable, the international education sector is not without certain challenges. 

For example, international students now account for an impressive 12% of New Zealand’s total education enrollment[1]. At some institutions, the proportion of international students to the total student enrolment however can be much higher. These institutions have arguably become financially reliant on the continued presence of international students in spite of the reality that doing so may be unnecessarily risky and unsustainable. It could take only one political incident or pandemic to jeopardize the financial security of these institutions.  In fact, IIE Project Atlas reports that just over 60% of all international students studying in New Zealand come from just two countries -China and India. ENZ and educational leaders may recognize the need to further diversify international student markets, but the allure of potentially large recruitment successes in China and India remains hard to deny.

All eight New Zealand universities are among the highest ranked institutions in the world, according to international QS university rankings and all have earned the prestigious 5-star QS university ratings. In spite of being home to some of the most preeminent institutions in the world, international marketing and outreach efforts continue to promote New Zealand as a travel destination. Indeed, New Zealand is a beautiful country with one of the most stunning natural environments in the world and with people who are known for their openness and generosity. And although New Zealand is unquestionably home of middle-earth, the preoccupation with presenting the country as a destination for adventure and magic comes at the expense of seriously promoting its fine academic institutions, at which students can participate in cutting edge research, work alongside prominent scholars of geothermal studies, assist in the production of award winning films, take part in world-leading population studies - to name but a few of the academic possibilities in New Zealand.

Finally, the attention given to international student recruitment has unfortunately overshadowed efforts to ensure that domestic Kiwi students can similarly engage in international and intercultural learning as part of their studies. Of the nearly 370,000 domestic higher education students in New Zealand in 2015, only 5,370 studied abroad, of which nearly 45% studied in neighboring Australia. There is a noticeable absence of any consistent dialogue in New Zealand about international educational exchange and partnerships. Appeals for reciprocity of mobility are often met with arguments that Kiwis are either not interested in international travel while in tertiary education or due to financial or related reasons are unable to participate. Because the emphasis here is placed on travel rather than on educational value makes it potentially less likely for students (and their families) to view international study as a viable investment in their success. If indeed international education is truly good for international students, as is often argued in New Zealand, then shouldn’t the same emphasis be given to encouraging Kiwis to pursue international education opportunities?  

Despite its challenges, the approach to international education in New Zealand is no less remarkable and may be best represented by the №8 wire analogy, an image that satisfyingly evokes images of innovation, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and hard work. With broad governmental support and thoughtful leadership throughout all sectors of higher education, the Kiwis have identified an array of complex societal challenges and have once again turned to an unconventional solution, that is international education. Although №8 wire may not have much practical utility in New Zealand today, the №8 wire mentality is most assuredly healthy, strong and driving New Zealand forward. 

?[1] IIE Project Atlas, https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Project-Atlas. The percentage of tertiary enrollment is undoubtedly higher.