The Education Amendment Act 2011
The Education Amendment Act 2011 came into force on 30 August 2011. In addition to the establishment of the new Crown agency promoting international education, the Amendment Act contains a number of changes relating to international students.
| Changes |
Rationale |
Imposing a legal obligation on a provider to enrol a person as an international student if the student is not a domestic student and the provider—
(a) provides the person with educational instruction for more than 2 weeks; or
(b) accepts tuition fees from the person. |
The rationale is to ensure that all international fee-paying students and those that visit for longer than two weeks are properly enrolled and protected by the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students (the Code). Those that visit for no more than 2 weeks and do not pay fees do not need to be enrolled. This means all education providers are permitted to host visitors in this category without having to enrol them and be subject to regulations targeting international students. This clarifies the ability of schools or other providers to host short-term cultural and sport visits by overseas students. |
| Enabling the International Education Appeal Authority to investigate and determine complaints from "authorised representatives" and "the Code Administrator" concerning international students. |
International students often have language and cultural barriers which prohibit them from making complaints themselves. This change enables them to authorise other people to lodge complaints on their behalf.
The Code Administrator may refer a breach to the International Education Appeal Authority for investigation and sanctions, according to the Code. This change to the Act is consistent with the Code. |
| Removing the requirement to make export education levy regulations for a particular period of time, so that the regulations can remain in force unless revoked. |
Currently the regulations have been made annually under the Act, regardless of whether there is a change to the rate or not. This involves unnecessary processes. This change will remove the requirement to make annual regulations and will enable the regulations to stay in place until there is a change. |
Other changes are related to New Zealand Qualifications Authority’s (NZQA) work. These are not limited to providers enrolling international students, but may also have impact on international education. Key changes include:
- Raising the threshold for PTE registration, including:
- an explicit requirement regarding PTE financial viability
- a broader "suitable body" requirement including consideration of the suitability of owners, directors, and key staff of PTEs
- confirmation of a person’s real identity; and disclosure of potential material conflicts of interest
- more transparent requirements around student fee protection and the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students
- linking PTE registration to the provision of at least one approved programme of study within 12 months of registration
- the ability to conditionally register a PTE.
- Providing a legislative basis for key quality assurance processes:
- In situations of PTE non-compliance, NZQA will be able to enter the PTE’s premises in order to assess whether and what further action is required.
- PTEs will be required to keep enrolment and academic records, and to make them available, as public institutions must do under section 225 of the Act.
NZQA will have the power to impose conditions on groups or types of PTEs to enable a more targeted response to incidents. In the past, the
- only option was the threat of deregistration.
- Extension of powers to cancel registration
- NZQA’s power to cancel registration has been expanded to cover the situation where a PTE has committed a statutory breach of any relevant legislation (e.g. the Immigration Act).
NZQA’s website has more information on these changes.
The text of the Education Amendment Act 2011 can be found here.