Source: Radio New Zealand
One of two schools that illegally gave scholarships to foreign students who played in their top sports teams says it only happened because a sponsorship deal fell through.
The other has not responded to RNZ’s questions.
School sport leaders say they do not believe the cases are symptomatic of a wider problem, but an auditor told RNZ he doubts many of his peers know to keep a lookout for scholarships to foreign students when they review schools’ finances.
The Office of the Auditor General brought the https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/541873/schools-spending-money-on-gyms-family-travel-for-principals-auditors-say breaches to light in reports published in February and December last year, covering audits of school annual reports for 2023 and 2024.
“We highlighted that two schools breached legislation by meeting the costs of an international student through a scholarship. Legislation requires schools to charge fees for international students that at least cover the estimated costs of providing tuition and capital facilities,” the most recent report said.
The Office of the Auditor-General told RNZ the schools were Westlake Boys’ High School and Howick College and RNZ understands in both cases the students represented the Auckland schools in top-level sport.
The Howick College annual report for 2023 showed the breach related to two foreign students.
“Without modifying our opinion, we draw the reader’s attention to a breach of legislation. The School enrolled and met the costs of two international students, including homestay and other school fees in the year ended 31 December 2023 through scholarships,” the auditors wrote.
“This is a breach of section 521(1) of the Education and Training Act 2020 which requires state schools to charge fees for international students that are not less than the estimated costs of providing tuition to a student in the relevant subject, course, or programme, including the provision of capital facilities, plus any other fees prescribed for international students.”
The Westlake annual report for 2024 had a similar comment but for one international student.
RNZ understands a third party alerted the firm that audited both schools’ accounts that it was illegal for state schools to subsidise the education of foreign students.
The firm did not respond to an RNZ request for comment.
Former Deloitte auditor Priyesh Ramesh told RNZ he doubted many auditors knew scholarships for foreign students were forbidden and it was unlikely they would check whether a scholarship in a school’s accounts was for a domestic or foreign student.
However, principals told RNZ the rules prohibiting schools from waiving or otherwise covering foreign students’ tuition costs were clear and the cases did not represent part of a wider problem.
The Education Ministry’s handbook of financial information for schools said scholarships must be open to every student at a school unless the giver of the scholarship has created a special trust.
Its website said international students not on a ministry-approved exchange programme must be charged fees that cover the cost of tuition and access to facilities.
Westlake headmaster Paul Fordham said the situation preceded his tenure as principal but it appeared the school helped a student after a sponsorship arrangement fell through.
“It certainly wasn’t a scholarship situation,” he said.
“It was a situation where a sponsorship had fallen through and the school essentially stepped in to meet the costs.”
Fordham said the school worked with auditors and the ministry to understand the breach and resolve it.
He said in the second year, 2024, the school found sponsorship that would cover what it believed were the student’s tuition and capital costs.
“We’ve tried to meet the rules but it’s a tricky situation when you’re dealing with a person.”
He would not confirm details about the student or the sport they played.
Fordham said he had not previously heard of third parties providing scholarships or sponsorships for foreign school students.
“It does seem unusual and I don’t know if it’s a generally-used practice. It’s certainly a one-off from what I could establish at Westlake,” he said.
Asked if schools were aware that they could not waive international students’ fees, Fordham said common sense suggested they should not do that.
“Money that’s given to schools for operational needs and facilities etcetera certainly isn’t given for the purposes of subsidising international students’ costs,” he said
Fordham said Westlake had 200 foreign students and some represented the school in sport.
He did not believe foreign students’ participation in school sport was creating problems.
School Sport New Zealand chief executive Mike Summerell said schools could have no more than two international students in any teams competing in School Sport championship events.
He said in the past some schools recruited top foreign athletes for short periods to bolster their teams and the rules were designed to prevent that from happening.
Summerell said School Sport redeveloped its eligibility rules extensively in 2025 and would review them, including those covering the inclusion on non-domestic students, this term.
Summerell said it was difficult to track how many foreign students were playing in top teams.
“There’s not necessarily an outcry by schools to say that international students are filling up these spaces, but I would hazard a guess that there are certainly international students taking opportunities at these championship events for a lot of schools and that’s not necessarily a problem.
“Whether that leads to success for those schools is really not something I have the data to comment on.”
Summerell said he did not know how well schools understood the ministry’s rules prohibiting the use of school funds to cover foreign students’ fees.
He said School Sport rules forbade offering sport scholarships.
“If there was evidence that schools were providing scholarships… that weren’t publicly-available, and by that I mean that’s on their website that there’s a scholarship for X and it’s contestable, then there’s provision under the School Sport New Zealand eligibility rules and our integrity framework to look at that and investigate whether that’s fair,” he said.
However, Summerell said it was extremely difficult to prove if a school had provided scholarships that broke the rules.
College Sport Auckland chair Tim O’Connor said many schools had foreign students in their sports teams and Education Ministry rules about their fees were clear, as were the School Sport New Zealand rules on participation.
O’Connor agreed that though schools were prohibited from waiving or subsidising foreign students’ fees, there was nothing to stop third parties providing scholarships or sponsorships and that should be monitored in case it became a problem.
He said sport was an extra-curricular activity and the primary purpose of schooling, including for international students, was to provide an education.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/02/12/schools-accused-of-giving-illegal-scholarships-to-foreign-students/