I don't understand what the problem is? It's not like international students are receiving some sort of relaxed entry by paying more. If you want to get into tertiary education its up to you as an individual. If you don't make the cut tough luck, thats how its going to be in life.

I completely agree with the statement by the New Zealand student association union co president David Do that international students are treated as "cash cows". This is a fact and is reinforced by attitudes of those in the tertiary sector who suggest that places for full fee paying foreign students are unlimited and dont impact on the number of kiwi students who could attend university. further to the comments of ex massey uni #40,it is true that massey is in real strife. It is not just engineering programs that are rubbish,but the aviation management programme is equally bad needs serious restructuring if it is going to be of any value to graduates. Recruitment of academics for the programme also needs to come under greater scrutiny as serious mistakes have been made in the past.

good to change the rules! now people needs to work hard to go to Uni to study! not those so call student life style crap anymore!

I am international student been studying in nz for the past four years and have shelled 80k on my education if i would have been a domestic student i would have paid only 16k so basically i paid 64k extra for being an international student. The difference is five times not three times williemo 21#. AB #6 you are saying international students taked and texted during the lectures i am pretty sure kiwis do that too at varsity. Neverthlees international students still do the hard yards study all nights finish the assigns and get B+ not like kiwis who are struggling to even pass the papers and with reference to Fred Frog #9 i agree with the views. International students contribute 2 billion to the nz economy every year and they work hard finish their qualification and get into workforce whereas the domestic students got the laid back which is not gonna help the nz economy in the long run. So face up kiwis here we come.

There is some merit in this National government policy. There are loads of time wasters at Unis in NZ, both domestic and international students. Problem is, not all are the kiwis, many sub-standard international students have meant a reduction in standards over recent years too because many can’t be bothered, and can't speak or write English. Many are also a lot more arrogant than the kiwis are, and they expect a degree without trying too. Sure, raise standards for Kiwi, but also for the internationals. I am an ex Massey student and staff member, and I know many academics who work in Unis around NZ, so I can confirm that the issues are a widespread problem. Massey especially is in real strife, their Engineering programmes are complete rubbish due to poor resourcing and an inability to attract good academics.

Fully agree. Long overdue

To put it in perspective, a domestic student at Victoria Uni pays around $646.50 to take a standard paper, an international student pays $3056.25. It is a good thing, the money made from international students gets spent on domestic students that are completing their degree! Like I said previously, it is much better having harder standards to get it, its not because the students can't afford to go to uni, its because they aren't good enough! Isn't going to uni supposed to be a high achievement that requires work?

Bcom #20 "Why should the Varsities have to soak up what is essentially a youth unemployment problem?" Exactly so and the same could be said of the last two or three years of high school. Technological and organisational advance has deskilled most jobs in the economy to the point that they can be done perfectly well by anybody with a few years primary education so ten years of compulsory general education should be plenty. Time to drop the school leaving age back to fifteen or even to the prewar fourteen?

Great, only our best and brightest should be allowed to go through Uni. Im all for it.

As a former uni student at Victoria, I have to agree with the Tertiary Minister. Many of the students in classes with me were not capable of doing the study and assessments as they were really below average when it came to reading and writing and comprehending. Many dropped out and one student had failed every single course they had tried in 2 years. They could not seem to understand why the university was going to place restrictions on future enrolments for him???