About the International Student Levy (ISL)
State schools that receive tuition fees from international fee-paying students or provide scholarships to international students to study in New Zealand must pay an International Student Levy (ISL) (under section 4D of the Education Act, 1989).
The money is used to cover the costs of using government resources to educate the international students, including the training of additional teachers and ESOL resources.
Exchange students, students sponsored by NZAID and also students studying off-shore are exempted from the ISL.
International Student Levy amount
The ISL is currently set at $429.33 (incl GST) for a full-year student. Because so many international students come for short stays the annual levy has been broken down to a weekly rate. The rates are shown in the following table.
School type | Weekly rate | Notional number of weeks in school year |
| Primary/intermediate | $10.73 (incl GST) | 40 |
| Secondary/area/special | $11.00 (incl GST) | 39 |
Why are Nominal Dates Used?
As the ISL is set at an annual rate of $429.33, to work out a weekly rate it is necessary to divide by a set number of weeks.
The nominal number of weeks for primary/intermediate schools is 40 while for secondary/composite and special schools it is 39.
For 20162015 the nominal start date for the calculation of the levy is 1is 2 February and the nominal end date is 18is 20 December for primary/intermediate and 11and 13 December for secondary/composite and special schools.
How the ISL is calculated
The ISL is calculated on a trimester basis. The nominal dates for 20162015 are shown in this table:
Trimester | Dates | Deduction from ops grant |
| 1 | 1 February | July instalment |
| 2 | 2 | October instalment |
| 3 | 1 August to 18 | January 2017 |
Towards the end of each trimester the administrator will email to schools a provisional list of international students extracted from ENROL.
The spreadsheet listing the students is called the RS15P. Schools will be asked to check the spreadsheet for correctness and if they find any problems they must correct it on ENROL.
A week later schools will be sent the final calculation of the levy on a spreadsheet called the RS15.
The minimum weekly tuition fee for international fee paying students to pay
The following table shows the average per student grant to domestic students for 2016:in 2010:
School type | Average annual grant (excl GST) | Average weekly grant (excl GST) |
| Primary | $5,877 | $147 |
| Secondary | $7,602 | $195 |
International Students that are subsidised by the board of trustees
A school Board of Trustees may reduce the advertised international student tuition fee on compassionate or other grounds. To do this the Board would need to make some sort of scholarship or donation from the Board to the school to make up the rest of the amount owing.
Section 4B requires that any Board scholarship or donation must come from income generated by the Board from locally raised funds or any profit earned from tuition fees from other international students. This will ensure that international students are not being subsidised by money appropriated by Parliament in the form of the Operations Grant.
Brazilian students on Pernambuco Scholarship
There is a contract arrangement between the Brazilian and New Zealand governments for students on the Pernambuco Scholarship scheme. These students will have a lesser tuition fee showing on the ENROL database than other international fee-paying students.
About the Export Education Levy
All education providers that enrol international-fee paying students are required to pay an Export Education Levy. The Export Education Levy is used to support a broad range of activities and projects relating to the export education industry. The work programme includes promotion and communication, capability development, quality assurance and research. In addition the Export Education Levy is used to fund the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students office.
Do state schools have to pay both levies?
No, state schools only pay the International Student Levy. The Ministry of Education does a transfer payment to the Export Education Levy Trust from the International Student Levy fund to cover the cost of the Export Education Levy.
Enquiries
Enquiries should be directed to Ron Ross, Administrator Export Education Levy Collection, Ministry of Education, National Office, Private Box 1666, Wellington, telephone (04) 463 8073, facsimile (04) 499 4532 or email ron.ross@education.govt.nz .