China has urged New Zealand to protect the legal rights of Chinese students without a school to attend after their institution declared itself bankrupt.

"We hope that all the students will be helped out of their current difficulties at an early date,'' Yang Xiaochun, an official with the Chinese consulate in New Zealand said yesterday in a telephone interview with China Daily.

Yang's was referring to more than 500 Chinese students attending the Carich Computer Training school who are wondering about their studies and living expenses because the school suddenly went under.

It is the second time a large number of Chinese students in New Zealand have faced such a dilemma recently.

Two months ago, the Modern Age Institute of Learning declared bankruptcy , putting the education of nearly 1,000 Chinese students in jeopardy.

The swift action of the Chinese consulate in New Zealand urging relevant New Zealand authorities to assist the Modern Age students, has resulted in most of them being placed in equivalent courses since then, said Pat English, trade commissioner of the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Beijing.

And an insurance group contracted with the Carich school to protect the students' tuition fees is now working to ensure the study programmes of the latest affected students are minimally affected, English said.

"More than 90 per cent of the Chinese students in the Modern Age Institute of Learning have been transferred to other institutions and can finish their studies at the new institutions,'' English said, hoping the same will be the case for the Carich group.

To ensure qualified overseas study programmes for Chinese students, especially young self-supporting students, Chinese Ministry of Education officials released its study-abroad guidance in Beijing last October to remind students who plan to study abroad to choose schools and colleges from an approved list. The list contains colleges in 21 countries, including the United States, Britain, New Zealand and Canada.

Embassy of New Zealand in China statistics indicate 30,000 Chinese students attended private schools and colleges in New Zealand last year and nearly 2,500 Chinese students have applied for study in New Zealand in the past three months.

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