By ALAN PERROTT
A proposed crackdown on the foreign-student industry would require schools to know where the students were living and take greater responsibility for their safety.
The Government yesterday announced plans for a revised code for the industry, which is worth about $1.7 billion a year.
The move came after a 22-year-old intellectually disabled Japanese man died at an unregistered academy. Nine students face murder charges.
Opponents of the code say it would be costly and impossible to police.
Associate Education Minister Steve Maharey said the plans aimed to ensure education providers were aware of their duty to provide international students with a "safe physical and emotional environment".
Last year there were 80,000 foreign fee-paying students in New Zealand.
The draft code requires schools, tertiary institutions and private academies to keep track of where each international student is living and who they are living with.
They will also have to keep in regular contact with the parents of students considered "vulnerable" because of special needs.
The code also clamps down on homestays, where students pay up to $200 a week to live in private households.
Schools and institutions will have to check the suitability of homestay accommodation, and there will be tighter controls over what is defined as a "homestay" rather than a boarding hostel.
The draft proposals also ask institutions to ensure students have health and travel insurance before enrolling.
Bill Rosenberg, of the Association of University Staff, welcomed the revised code and said he hoped it meant students would not be exploited as a source of income.
But Barbara Takase, of the Association of Private Providers of English Language, said it was an overreaction that would be impossible to administer.
Overseas students frequently changed address, she said. It should be they who had to notify schools when they moved, as part of their visa conditions.
Mr Maharey said more controls governing the well-being of students under 13 should be in place by the next school year.
Failing to follow the code could see an International Education Appeal Authority order restitution and correction of problems.
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