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NZ Feedback
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High student satisfaction, relatively small average class sizes and, typically, just over half of students hailing from Asia were this year’s trends within New Zealand.
NZ Feedback at a glance
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Total number of students: 75 (female 37, male 38)
Average age in years: 24.7
Average length of programme in weeks: 12.6
Average number of students in class: 7
Average number of hours of language tuition per week: 23.2
% of students who found out about their course through an agent: 64
% of students who booked through an agent or adviser: 65
% of students who had been on another language programme: 63
% of students who would recommend their school: 99
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| Respondents by world region of origin |
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Top nationalities |
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1. Asia 55%
2. W Europe 21%
3. Latin America 11%
4. Middle East 5%
5. C & E Europe 4%
6. Australasia 1%
No reply 3%
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1. Korean 20%
2. Japanese 17%
3. Swiss 13%
4. Chinese 12%
5. Brazilian 9%
6. French 7%
7. Taiwanese 5%
8. Saudi Arabian 5%
Other 12%
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| In my class there are... |
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How easy is it to practise your language skills with native speakers? |
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1. The right amount of students (60%)
3. Too many students from one other country (21%)
3. Too many students who speak my language (13%)
4. Too many students (6%)
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1. Quite hard (45%)
1. Quite easy (39%)
2. Very easy (9%)
4. Very hard (5%)
Unknown 3% |
| How did you find your programme? |
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Did you book your course through an agent or an educational adviser?
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1. Recommended by an agent (64%)
2. Recommended by a friend/relative (22%)
3. I found it on the Internet (11%)
4. I saw it advertised (3%)
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Yes (65%)
No (32%)
Unknown (3%)
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Student reasons for school selection included:
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“I was told there were fewer Swiss than in other schools”
“The consulate of my country chose my school”
“The school is near the beach”
“A good website and small classes”
“The course was a reasonable price”
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| Before looking for your course, did you know where you wanted to study? |
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Country
Yes (81%)
No (19%)
City/town
Yes (56%)
No (44%) |
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School
Yes (37%)
No (63%) |
Student nationality
There was little change year on year in the trends unearthed by our Feedback survey on New Zealand. There remains an Asian bias to nationality breakdown, with Koreans and Japanese the most dominant student nationalities, followed by Swiss, which had dropped their market share very slightly from joint-second with Japanese students last year (see LTM, April 2009, pages 32-33) to third position. After last year was noted for its decline of Chinese students, they were back in strong form, closely snapping at the heels of the Swiss. Therefore, there was a slight rise in overall Asian students across the student demographic, representing 55 per cent of all intake, up from 52 per cent last year. French students were the slight surprise this year, representing seven per cent of students yet not in the top 10 last year.
Student motivation
Forty-three per cent of students defined themselves as university or college students in this survey, yet work was the overriding reason for studying English. Although some students gave more than one reason for learning English, 50 per cent of the reasons indicated were ‘current or future work’. Nevertheless, 11 per cent of those polled planned on further academic study in New Zealand and another 15 per cent said they planned to use their English for college study in another country. Sixty per cent of those planning further studies in New Zealand were Chinese and 20 per cent were Saudi Arabian.
Student enrolment
There was a very slight drop in the reliance on education agents among students bound for New Zealand, with 65 per cent as opposed to 68 per cent of those polled having booked their course through an agency. Students were studying on average for 12.6 weeks, with 12 weeks the most likely course length, although a range of between one week and 52 weeks was recorded. The average age of students was 24.7 and the average class size was seven students. Just six per cent of students thought that there were too many students in their class, but most of these were in classes of 10 or more. Accommodation tended towards host families; the choice of 69 per cent of students, although almost 30 per cent were either in residential accommodation or apartments.
Standard of the schools
In terms of student satisfaction, a whopping 99 per cent of students overall said that they would recommend their school. Nevertheless, there were some respondees less happy with class mix, as 21 per cent said there were too many students of another nationality in their class, and 13 per cent said there were too many of their own nationality (from a wide range of countries in fact). When rating aspects of their programme, the teachers fared very well, deemed excellent or good by 96 per cent. By contrast, 81 per cent thought the same of the social programme, with just 37 per cent rating it excellent as opposed to 69 per cent in the teachers’ category.
Living in NZ
Sixty per cent of Swiss students found the cost of living in NZ to be about the same as at home while 30 per cent found it to be lower. Meanwhile, almost 60 per cent of Brazilians thought it was about the same and just over one-third of Japanese students believed it was cheaper than at home. Overall, 47 per cent of students found New Zealand’s cost of living to be higher than at home and this included 73 per cent of Koreans and all Chinese students.
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Contact any advertiser in the this issue now
The following language schools, associations and accommodation providers advertised in the latest edition of Language Travel Magazine. If you would like more information on any of these advertisers, tick the relevant boxes, fill out your details and send.
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