International Education Association Conference

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language. Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the afternoon (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Sylvia Hooker and Felicity Fallon, New Zealand and Australian presidents respectively of the ISANA International Education Association; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.

My wife Susan and I have accepted with pleasure the invitation to be here for the ISANA International Education Association's 19^th International  Conference here in Auckland today.

As Governor-General of New Zealand, I would like to formally welcome delegates from so many places in the world who are here attending the conference.  I trust that you not only gain much valuable knowledge and information from the conference, but that you also may have an opportunity to learn a little more about New Zealand, its peoples, cultures, communities and landscapes and other attractions.

Turning then to the theme of your conference, you will note that when I spoke of people, culture and community, I used the plural to describe all three.  I did so deliberately, because New Zealand can now describe itself as a diverse nation—culturally, ethnically, religiously and in many other ways.

Ours is a country of migrants. Hundreds of years ago some travelled here on canoes from Polynesia.  In more recent times others travelled here in sailing ships and steamers from Europe and Asia.  Others again came in liners and aeroplanes from the Pacific and Asia.  As the noted New Zealand historian, the late Dr Michael King said:  "In a country inhabited for a mere one thousand years, everybody is an immigrant or the descendant of an immigrant."

The last New Zealand Census in 2006 revealed that nearly a quarter (about 23 percent) of New Zealanders were born overseas, a comparatively high figure by OECD standards.  A century ago, almost all of those people born overseas would have hailed from Britain or Ireland.  Today, about 28 percent come from Britain or Ireland—the same proportion as those from Asia. 

But it is not just from Asia that migrants have come here.  A great many New Zealanders have Pacific origins.  Some 266,000 people identified as being of Pacific origin and the large majority live in the Auckland region, making this city (Akarana or Aukilani as you will hear it called on PacificIsland radio stations here) the largest Polynesian city in the world.

In many respects, my appointment as New Zealand's first Governor-General with Asian and Pacific in my background, is a reflection of this growing cultural diversity.

Religiously, New Zealand is also increasingly diverse. The Census found that within the Christian group—to which slightly more than half of New Zealanders said they were affiliated—the four major groups, Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians and Methodists, remained dominant although there were significant rises in Orthodox, Pentecostal and Evangelical religions compared with earlier times. 

Reflecting immigration from Asia, there were significant rises also in those affiliated to non-Christian religions. While of course starting from much smaller bases, the numbers of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims all increased significantly.

And also as a sign of the modern era, almost 35 percent of all New Zealanders said they followed no faith at all, this having risen from just under 30 percent five years earlier.

Against this backdrop, the theme of your conference, promoting integration and interaction for international students, is highly topical.

That students travel to other countries to study is no new phenomenon and has been occurring since whenever higher learning became available. 

However, it is only with the advent modern communication and transportation systems that the numbers of internationally mobile students have begun to increase in dramatic fashion.  In 1999, UNESCO estimated that there were about 1.75 million students studying abroad.  By 2005, those figures had risen to an estimated 2.7 million, an increase of more than 50 percent in just six years.

Statistics published this year by New Zealand's Ministry of Education indicate that while international student enrolment at all levels in this country peaked at more than 125,000 in 2002, the more than 90,000 studying here in 2007 was still significantly higher than the numbers in 2001.

Those students come from almost every country on the globe, although China, Korea, Japan, Germany, the United States, Brazil and India account for about two-thirds of all student visas. International students also make a significant contribution to the New Zealand economy, estimated to be worth $2 billion a year.

But the value of international students can be measured in far more than economic terms.  They add to the cultural diversity I have already noted.  In an academic environment, they give to New Zealand students a different perspective of the world around them.  New Zealand legal and political science students for example it can be readily understood, can only benefit from discussing and debating with students where the Head of State might be elected, where violent changes of government have occurred or where elections may be far from free and fair.

Many international students find that they like New Zealand so much that they do not want to leave, and application to continue to work here, ensuring that the valuable skills and knowledge they gained while studying are retained. 

The reasons why students travel to other countries to study are many and varied.  Some travel for career reasons, confident that a qualification from a foreign university will lead to a better job, either back home or elsewhere.  For others, especially for postgraduate students, it can be work and study with the top researchers in their field. 

Others again travel to gain skills in another language and yet for others, it can be to study and to gain an "overseas experience" of another country, its language and culture.  Some are also refugees, driven from their home country by domestic violence. For many, it is a combination of all these factors. 

International students, like other sojourners, face particular issues in transitioning to life in a new country—and on their return home.  Dubbed "culture shock," this sense of being faced by unfamiliar surroundings, where the familiar language and cultural cues are missing, can sometimes cause considerable stress.

While culture shock was initially seen as an illness, it is now increasingly viewed as a learning process, much like many other changes that occur in our daily lives.  It is now recognised that everyone faces such stresses when we move from the familiar to the unfamiliar, such as changing jobs or moving from one city to another.

My first year as a university student was spent at a hall of residence at the University of Otago in Dunedin in 1964 before I returned to Auckland to undertake a law degree.  Having been born and raised in Auckland, there was the transition from the controlled learning of a secondary school to the independent learning of a university, from a place I knew to one I did not and from living with my parents to living away from them.  And then there was the difference between an Auckland summer and a Dunedin winter!

For international students, these issues are compounded by differences in language and culture in a new country.  While many of those studying in New Zealand often arrive with at least some knowledge of English, as we all know there is a vast difference between the use of a language in a classroom and its use in another country.  I wonder how many foreign students have been caught out by the peculiarities of New Zealand English where, for example, phrases such as "bring a plate" can have less than obvious meanings and, as a result, quite embarrassing consequences when misunderstood.

And it is not just the students that face those stresses.  Since the New Zealand Government introduced its policy of offering international students doctoral degrees at domestic tuition rates, there has been a significant increase in doctoral students studying here.  Being older, senior postgraduate students are more likely to have partners and children with them.  While a doctoral student comes to a new country with a sense of purpose in undertaking research, for their partners, the isolation they face can often be acute.

The Ministry of Education and Education New Zealand, along with all education providers, have recognised there are particular needs for international students.  The Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students is the formal means through which a host of support services are delivered, standards maintained and against which institutional compliance is monitored.

The most recent survey by the Ministry of Education, released earlier this year, showed that international students generally have high praise for New Zealand.  But while they were generally happy about the education they received, it highlighted the need for more work to be done to ensure better connections between international students, their domestic peers and support services.  In particular, a common plea is that they want more New Zealand friends.

The issues and challenges that international students face are yet another facet of the challenges we all face in dealing with our nation's growing diversity. 

Communication technology and high-speed convenient air travel means there is more cross-cultural contact than ever before.  As my own family history illustrates—with grandparents born in India, parents born in Fiji and myself and my brother born in New Zealand—migration between countries has increased. 

While I believe this diversity has the ability to enrich our society, culture and economy, I am also keenly aware that it poses challenges.  As disputes throughout the world have shown, just because there is greater cultural contact, it does not necessarily follow that people will show greater tolerance to each other.  Greater contact can equally lead to a retreat to the security of one's own cultural, religious or ethnic zone or an assertive outward emphasis on nationalism.

New Zealand has thankfully been spared such xenophobic conflicts, and indeed, we have long been known to be a people with a live-and-let-live attitude to life and to others.  However, this approach hides a hidden danger because tolerance is effectively passive.  Because there is no active engagement or communication, the opportunity for real understanding never occurs and preconceptions and stereotypes can often go unchallenged.

The key then is to move from tolerance to understanding.  Real understanding requires interaction—to meet, to talk and to socialise with others who are different from us.  It also means getting to know people as individuals on their own terms, and not as robots whose behaviour is dictated by cultural imperatives. 

Communication across cultural and religious differences will not be fraught or stressful if we are prepared to get to know people as they are, not as we conceive them to be.  Barriers will only be broken down if people communicate at a community and neighbourhood level.

By talking over a meal or by watching or participating in sport together is how we get to know others.  By talking about everyday things, we often find we have much in common with those who initially seem so alien.  As American writer Ola Joseph noted:  "Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another's uniqueness."

This then, I believe is the key to assisting international students to successfully integrate into New Zealand society.  Friends do not materialise out of thin air.  We meet people and make friends through interacting in social settings and participating as members of the community.  One of the best ways to do that is through encouraging people to join clubs and assist community groups as volunteers.

Earlier this year, I launched a publication by Volunteering Wellington, entitled The First Door That Opened: Experiences of Migrants in Wellington's Voluntary Sector.  Based on the research by Victoria University postgraduate student Rebecca Gray, the book reveals how volunteering has proven a key means to assist migrants to Wellington to establish themselves, make friends outside their own cultural grouping and often find employment. As Governor-General, I am the Patron of more than 120 worthy charities that I am sure would appreciate any assistance that willing international students would be keen to offer!

In conclusion then assistance and support to international students, while it has its own particular challenges, should not be seen in isolation from the benefits, challenges and opportunities inherent in New Zealand's diversity.  They are in effect but two sides of the same coin.  By considering them as a whole, they can not only be better addressed but also strengthen our society.  As Mahatma Gandhi once said: "I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stifled. I want all the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any."

And on that note, I will close in New Zealand's first language Maori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours.   No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.