Difference in fees shocks student from China

Asian students from China, Korea and Vietnam wanting to study English in New Zealand are being told they have to pay higher fees that those from the Middle East or South America.

The Human Rights Commission said education providers that charged different fees based on nationality could be in breach of the Human Rights Act, and is asking affected students to contact it.

A student looking for a school to do a short English course with her Japanese flatmate has been been told by at least two Auckland providers that she has to pay a higher tuition fee because she holds a Chinese passport.

At one language and business training provider, Kingston Institute, the advertised fee for Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese nationals to do a 12-week English language programme is $2250.

But students from Japan, Brazil and Saudi Arabia are charged $1500 for the same course.

"On the face of it, it would appear that any practice of setting different tuition fees for different passport holders could constitute discrimination on the basis of national or ethnic origin," a commission spokesman said.

"We would encourage the students affected to contact the commission to discuss this further." (nzherald.co.nz)