Continuing in our series of Migrant Tales – first hand accounts of migrant life in New Zealand.

Today’s tale was left by ‘Vigilante’ a well educated student from New Delhi that found New Zealand’s tertiary education sector was poor quality and a rip-off.

Post-graduation, the workplace situation made his NZ education seem like an expensive walk in the park. Fed up with the nepotism and racism he and his partner will soon leave New Zealand, very much poorer but wiser and eager to tell their tale.

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Here’s his tale

Trying to find a space where i could vent off my experience of New Zealand since 2008.

June 5, 2008 i landed in Auckland 11.25 New Zealand time and proceeded towards catching connecting flight to Napier, i still remember that day, crystal clear, as an 18 year old student of Bachelor of Business at Eastern Institute of Technology, Napier.

I was supposed to be picked up at the airport but since nobody showed up, i shelled out 32 bucks for a ‘splendid’ ten kilometer trip to the student village! God, i had no idea what i was getting into.

Setting the background, i am from New Delhi and it was sure heck of a transition. To be honest, the first two or three days it felt good and all rosy to the young guy of that time, although i was surprised watching the empty streets and wondered how come shop-owners stay afloat. First week, we had an orientation session, where we were ‘scared mongered’ as they told how Indian students work illegally here and how its hard to find job. Gawd! they were telling this to students after they landed here, like we were some sort of pariah or refugees!! It was nonsense and pathetic, (the fat lady who gave ‘meagered’ us with her passionate elocution, was later fired owing to visa fraud charges and accepting bribes!!!)

Student village was far from the supermarket, and the public transport is non-existent in Hawkes Bay and a one way trip in taxi cost around thirty bucks. So here i was hungry and feeling ripped off, as no staff helped us transition at that time. After fifty grand of fees, they turned it soon turned out to be a hefty misadventure. EIT as they call it was a very small campus, with bare minimum facilities and looked nothing liked on brochures, but most disappointment was with the teaching staff and totally unqualified lecturers, so much so once i had a person holding a bachelors degree in agriculture teaching a course in business operations. The local students seemed distant and not too interested in striking a conversation, seemed like closeted freaks. Two weeks and I noticed the intellectual absurdity, as there were seemingly grown up students in college level course who didn’t knew about ‘Keynes’ in degree level economics class!! Which to be honest was even of lower standard than my eight grade economics course, and anybody can verify the curriculum from the ICSE India website to validate my point, anyways, soon I immediately know i was among redneck.

Anyways, passed out, had to take so much pain and shitty employments as student, suffered from depression, self loathing and plain hatred of sheep country! Thought that thing would change in employment situation. WRONG I WAS! my manager turned out not to even have a diploma and there were three managers in our team of five, all the managers were of the same level. Sometimes, i don’t understand how kiwis discount educated people so easily, anybody who has a degree has certainly has more aptitude than these uneducated clowns soaking themselves in the glory of managerial positions. Also, yeah forgot to say that i have been already been made redundant too as the company ‘restructured’. Such low life bullies!! employment relation is a joke here and HR managers are nothing but there to commit the dirty acts on behalf of their employer.

I hate my current job, but i hate the CEO the most and the unqualified high school pass GM whose act would be deemed a profanity in the subject of management studies.I know that these people faked documents to secure funding from NZTE, as one of the external directors belong the the old boys network and probably drinks in the same pub from the fellas from the NZTE.

Long story short, am relocating to Australia in one year along with my girlfriend who is originally from Hong Kong, having lived here more than 12 years and is a qualified CPA with Bachelors Degree, she cant even land a suitable job in accounting here and works in general office administration, and is truly unsatisfied and faces the same old boys club, mismanagement, work place bullying and suppression of latent talents.

Other than that we both have faced instances of racism, and have had enough of this place.

We think that we are fortunate being young, with energy to make a move and in order to get ourselves to be able to afford having a stable life and have family, a move is imminent.

Hope everything goes well, as we move out of this rut. Boy I am outta here!

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