Hot Topic

The government wants to set a levy on education exports for an industry development fund, worth $3.9 million annually by 2005. It proposes setting the levy at 0.5% of gross foreign fee-paying student tuition fee income and invited submissions by 15 November.

• An Education Forum press release explains why the levy is not a good idea: Rushed export education levy may be too taxing for international students.

• ACT MP Deborah Coddington looks at a Victoria University submission: University Blows Compulsory Levy Out of the Water.

• The Victoria University submission from pro-vice chancellor Neil Quigley describes the proposal as “one of the most flawed and poorly informed pieces of policy analysis ever used to create a tax or levy in New Zealand”.

• The New Zealand Vice Chancellors Committee’s most recent submission on the levy can be accessed from the NZVCC website.

• The latest submission from the Association of Private Providers of English Language can be downloaded here from its website.

• The Ministry of Education sets out its strategic approach to export education.

• The government’s consultation document provides some insight into the government’s strategy.

• Two Education Forum Briefing Papers highlight the importance of export education to New Zealand, as well as looking at issues associated with it and discussing solutions to overcome them:
  
  No.4, New Zealand's Education Exports, Anna McKinlay, September 2002
  No.2, Trade in Education: Schools for Children, not Markets!, Dr Ralph Lattimore, August 2002