HAMILTON: Students from India who come to New Zealand have the highest rate of transition to work (72 percent) after completing their studies, followed by students from China (43 percent), says Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman here Friday.
Similarly, students from India also have the highest rate of transition to permanent residence (47 percent), again followed by students from China (23 percent), he adds.
Around one third of international students who come to New Zealand keep following their studies to contribute to the New Zealand economy and workforce. According to Department of Labour research, around 31 percent of fee paying international students are progressing to work after their studies and around one-fifth are gaining permanent residence.
“Not only does New Zealand gain from the economic benefits of having them study here, many international students stay on providing longer-term benefits by contributing their skills to our workforce and economy,’’ Dr Coleman says. “This research shows that New Zealand is an attractive place to study because of the quality and cost of education in an English speaking country”, added Dr Coleman.
‘’Another plus for fee-paying foreign students is the recent introduction of interim visas which allows them to continue studying while applying for visas to further their studies. This will smooth the enrolment process for education providers.’’
It is pertinent to mention here that export education is one of New Zealand’s top five export industries and almost five percent rise in the number of international students for the first eight months of 2010,
compared to the same period 2009 (from 78,905 to 82,577) have been recorded by Labour Department.
The research also found 68 percent of former international students were in fulltime employment 18 months after gaining permanent residence. Nearly one-third – 31 percent – worked in professional occupations and 62 percent worked in a skilled job.
“This research report confirms what we are actually seeing in the marketplace” says Richard Howard, Managing Director of Pathways to New Zealand Ltd one of New Zealand’s longest established immigration and education advisers. “The main reasons international students study in New Zealand remains the quality and cost of their education and the opportunities to work after completing their studies, and also to achieve permanent residence.” New Zealand’s immigration policies provide an attractive and smooth pathway for graduates to enter the work force and to gain the necessary experience and work placement to apply for residence under the Skilled Migrant Category, he added.
As the Minister has advised the immigration policies by which students currently progress from study to work, and then residence, are currently under review. “It is possible there will be some immigration policy changes in this area in the future with any changes likely to result in students who study full bachelor degree and postgraduate degrees being given higher recognition as far as immigration benefits are concerned while students studying lower level, shorter programmes may not receive the same immigration policy benefits”, said Dr. Coleman.
Source:http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/indian-students-ahead-highest-transition-rate-work-and-pemanent-residency-nz/28722
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