Eun Ju and Jay Jung with their twin daughters Mini and Hyuni, 9, at the Tauranga Multicultural Festival in March. Photo / Salina Galvan Photography
Nearly four times the number of international students are living and studying in Tauranga City than in 2022, and one education agency says it has had the biggest arrival of new Korean families since a decade ago.
Educators say their arrival is a welcome boost and will help bring a new “vibe” to Tauranga, while one new resident describes the city as a “treasure”.
Ministry of Education figures show there were 654 international fee-paying students studying at Tauranga schools in 2023. More than half - 383 - were from Korea.
The total was nearly four times the 167 in 2022 and almost double the 374 in 2021. There were 683 international students in Tauranga City in 2020 before Covid-19 closed New Zealand’s borders.
A delegation of 23 Western Bay primary and secondary schools and Waikato University representatives travelled to South Korea in October to showcase the region’s education opportunities.
Director of Tauranga Korean Times Hyun Taek Yang said his agency had welcomed about 55 new families and more than 100 students to study at local schools this year as a direct result of the trip.
Yang said this was the biggest number of new families in the past 10 years.
“We usually get about 40 new families,” he said.
Yang said it was exciting to see the families “finally” arrive.
“They have been waiting for two to three years since they originally planned to come ... But they are very patient.”
The arrival has brought a “new vibe” to Tauranga’s Korean community.
“We are heading back to normal.”
Yang said each family was likely to spend about $100,000 per year including tuition fees and living costs and each family stayed for an average of two to three years. So 55 new families would likely contribute about $5m to the local economy this year alone. In total, he said, the 100 families would contribute about $10m.
But Yang said it was not all about the money.
“The families are looking to share our Korean culture. They will bring Korean culture into primary and secondary schools and make life-long friendships.”
Many would stay to finish their schooling, study at local universities and eventually become “ambassadors of our city”, he said.
Director of Korean agency Vision Consulting NZ, Christian Ryu, said this year his company had about 40 Korean families studying in local schools, including short- and long-term students.
“Our total family numbers are currently around 45 families and 70 students.
“I already have 16 families to come for studies in Term 2 and Term 3.”
Ryu said the influx of international students brought many benefits to Tauranga.
It was believed large tuition fees contributed to a school, improving its infrastructure and resources while living expenses helped local businesses and increased production and consumption activities, Ryu said.
Ryu said he received more inquiries about studying in Tauranga than before Covid-19.
“Tauranga is a great place to study with good schools that are willing to give them great support and good local students who are attentive and friendly toward them.”
Education Tauranga’s regional relationship manager of international education, Melissa Gillingham, said the new arrivals brought diversity.
“Having that cultural interaction for our Kiwi kids is really important, especially after having the borders closed for a few years.”
This year, Gillingham said many fathers had accompanied the families arriving in Tauranga, “which has been pretty special”.
The financial impact helped support the city’s Korean business community and wider community.
Tauranga Intermediate School welcomed 16 new Korean students this year, bringing the total to 26, principal Cameron Mitchell said.
“Not only do we provide outstanding education for our Korean students, it also helps our domestic students become global citizens as they learn to interact with students of different cultures.”
Mitchell said the school had also welcomed 19 students from Thailand for two weeks.
Tauranga Boys’ College director of international students Annette Roff said the school had 10 new Korean students and she was confident enrolments would continue to grow.
Roff said as a school it was important to focus on global citizenship and by having international students as part of the college community “we can confidently grow our understanding of various cultures”.
Roff said the school’s Global Ambassador Programme, as part of an Education Tauranga initiative, had become part of its new student orientation programme where students took on the role of an ambassador to look after a new student and help them to assimilate.
“This has been a real success story as students can learn from each other about their culture. This can help to educate and grow an understanding to ensure all of our international students feel a sense of turangawaewae [belonging] ... along with all of our other students within our school community.”
Many students would never be given the opportunity to travel overseas.
“This is one way where they can connect with another culture and they can learn from one another and form lifelong relationships.”
When Korean mother Eun ju Jung saw photos of Tauranga online she thought it was a “treasure” she wanted to keep secret.
It didn’t take her long to decide Tauranga was where she wanted to immerse herself and her family for a year.
Eun Ju and her husband Jay arrived from Ulsan in South Korea with their 9-year-old twin daughters Mini and Hyuni in January.
After living under strict Covid-19 restrictions in Korea, Eun Ju said she wanted to give her daughters a different experience where they could be “free”.
“We were tired of wearing masks.
“When I first found Tauranga through the Tauranga Korean Times, I thought ‘this is a treasure’.
“I wanted it to be my little secret. It had beautiful weather ... and I always dreamed of living by the sea.”
Eun Ju said it was uncommon for the whole family to travel and most fathers would stay home to work while their wives and children went abroad.
They are called the goose father - or gireogi appa in Korean.
“It is the Korean symbol of love and sacrifice.”
It was difficult for both husband and wife to get parental leave to be able to travel as a family, Eun Ju said.
“But we had the chance to do it and Jay really wanted to come.”
The twins are Year 3 at Tahatai Coast School.
“In the beginning, they were nervous. They have never been apart and they were in different classes, which was a challenge for them.”
Now they were loving it, Eun Ju said.
The girls had play dates with their new Kiwi friends, which Eun Ju said was a good experience for them.
“It is a good chance for them to learn English and to make new foreign friends.”
The family was renting a home in Pāpāmoa which Eun Ju said they had been waiting about a year for.
But they felt lucky to be living so close to the girls’ school and near the beach. While here, the family had been climbing Mauao and the Pāpāmoa hills, and taking up new hobbies.
Jay had signed up to the local football club and Eun Ju had taken up swimming. The pair was studying English and economics together.
“I love the culture here. Every time I meet a stranger around the Mount, they smile at me. It feels very warm.”
2019: 680
2020: 683
2021: 374
2022: 167
2023: 654
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