NZ cheap for foreign students, study finds

SYDNEY - New Zealand is cheaper for overseas tertiary students to study and live in than Australia, according to an Australian report comparing costs in five countries.

New Zealand was found to be the least expensive of the five countries, which also included the United States, Canada and Britain.

The report, produced for the federal government, looked at tuition and other fees charged to foreign students in all eight New Zealand universities.

It also compared average annual living costs, which were cheapest in New Zealand at US$5523 ($11,895) per student (at June 2001 exchange rates), as opposed to US$6043 in Australia and US$8783 in Britain, which was the most expensive.

Comparing the trans-Tasman neighbours, the report said New Zealand offered a better proposition than Australia in most courses.

The exceptions were bachelors of medicine and information technology; masters of nursing, public health, and urban and regional planning; and doctorates in education, engineering and medicine.

Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson used the report this week to highlight the lower costs in Australia compared with its other main competitor nations apart from New Zealand.

He was responding to criticism by the opposition Labour Party that higher education was more expensive in Australia than in the United States.

But Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said that, while overseas students might find Australia a cheaper place to study, it was a different story for domestic students.

- NZPA