International Student Enrolments in New Zealand 2002 – 2008

Student visas and permits

The Immigration Service of the Department of Labour collates information on the numbers of approved (and declined) applications for student visas and student permits³. This information for seven key source countries is summarised in Table 3, on a financial year basis (i.e. for the years ending 30 June).   

Since the peak in 2003/04 there has been a 53% decline in total approvals for Chinese students, from 62,417 to 22,917 in 2008/09. There was a very marked increase in student visa and permit approvals for Saudi Arabian students, rising from 381 in 2005/06 to 3,162 in 2008/09. Significant growth was also recorded in the numbers of approvals for students from India.

Table 3: Approved student visas & permits, by origin

	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09
China	58,375	62,417	52,061	43,055	34,464	25,179	22,917
South Korea	19,643	17,521	14,231	12,742	14,342	13,849	13,716
Japan	5,595	5,353	5,123	4,685	4,351	4,091	3,906
Germany	1,595	2,096	2,229	2,698	2,881	2,994	3,602
USA	2,361	2,917	3,120	2,889	3,008	2,979	3,112
Saudi Arabia	145	174	286	381	838	1,851	3,162
India	2,977	3,233	2,973	3,220	3,954	6,858	9,684
All other economies	24,509	25,564	24,798	25,612	28,859	31,804	35,438
Totals	115,200	119,275	104,821	95,282	92,697	89,605	95,537

Chart 4: Total approved student visas and permits

A comparison with the enrolment information for calendar years shows that there is usually a close relationship with the total approved student visas and permits in each financial year.  The notable exceptions are that the visas approved for people from South Korea and Japan are much lower than their enrolment numbers.  This is because many Korean and Japanese students who are enrolled in short courses with English language providers are understood to be in New Zealand on visitor visas, which are not included in the student visa and permit records.

North Asia

The majority of international enrolments in New Zealand continue to come from the three main North Asian countries of China, Japan, and South Korea.  These three countries provided 55% of all enrolments in 2008.  There are also a significant number of students from Taiwan.

Table 4: North Asia student enrolments

Note: The slight differences between the respective country totals for 2007, as stated in Table 2 and Table 4, are due to minor errors in reporting/recording of provider details.* including subsidiary providers.
	China (including Hong Kong SAR)		Japan		South      Korea		Taiwan ROC
	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008
Schools.	2,106	2,080	1,789	1,667	6,579	6,584	356	329
Public Tertiary Education Institutions.	13,262	10,056	2,020	1,816	2,118	1,984	526	500
Private Training Establishments*	9,408	8,443	8,427	7,193	8,806	8,621	1,942	1,289
Totals	24,776	20,579	12,236	10,676	17,503	17,189	2,824	2,118

The spread of Chinese students across provider groups is concentrated within the public tertiary education institutions, though a decline has been evident in this sector due to a marked fall in new enrolments of Chinese students since 2004.

It is apparent that most Japanese students enrolled within private training establishments (67% in 2008), as did students from Taiwan.  South Korean students were concentrated in the schools, and private training establishment sectors, with relatively few enrolled with public tertiary education institutions.  

South East Asia

The following table shows a sectoral breakdown for the four largest South East Asia source countries for international students.  There were increases in student enrolments recorded from Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam from 2006 to 2007. There are wide variations in the enrolment patterns of students.  Malaysian students were mainly enrolled in public tertiary education institutions, whereas Thai students were predominantly enrolled with private training establishments.  Vietnamese student enrolments are more broadly spread across the provider groups.

Table 5: South-East Asia student enrolments

	Thailand		Malaysia		Vietnam		Indonesia
	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008
Schools.	793	887	83	85	222	283	51	38
Public Tertiary Education Institutions.	485	559	1,658	1,795	539	453	281	255
Private Training Establishments.	1,691	1,187	190	267	271	362	152	177
Totals	2,969	2,633	1,931	2,147	1,032	1,098	484	470

South Asia

There has been a rapid growth in enrolments of students from India from 2007 to 2008, particularly within public tertiary education institutions and private training establishments. 

Table 6: South- Asia student enrolments

	India		Pakistan		Bangladesh		Sri      Lanka
	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008
Schools.	73	76	6	4	1	3	10	7
Public Tertiary Education Institutions.	1,948	2,992	66	104	35	26	96	120
Private Training Establishments.	1,715	2,972	38	52	19	28	17	64
Totals	3,736	6,040	110	160	55	57	123	191

It is notable that the 61% increase in enrolments of Indian students recorded from 2007 to 2008 is greater than the 41% increase in approved student visas and permits granted to Indian nationals from 2007/08 to 2008/09, as shown in Table 3.

The Middle East

Students from the Middle East studying in New Zealand are mainly from Saudi Arabia, and these students have predominantly enrolled in private training establishments (71% in 2008).   

Table 7: Middle East student enrolments

	Saudi      Arabia		Oman		United      Arab Emirates,    Kuwait,    Qatar    & Bahrain		Turkey & Iran
	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008
Schools.	92	231	13	12	39	40	12	11
Public Tertiary Education Institutions.	496	955	155	157	105	134	59	45
Private Training Establishments.	2,076	2,914	121	111	117	154	73	106
Totals	2,664	4,100	289	280	261	328	144	162

Europe

Enrolments of European students are concentrated within private training establishments and the public tertiary education institutions.   Enrolment information for the top four European source countries is stated in Table 8.  From 2007 to 2008 there were marked increases in enrolments of German students in schools, and in French enrolments with private training establishments. 

Table 8: European student enrolments

	Germany		France		Switzerland		Russia
	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008
Schools.	1,460	1,672	52	63	29	22	91	109
Public Tertiary Education Institutions.	482	460	141	113	39	30	281	304
Private Training Establishments.	954	966	1,110	1,273	1,481	1,282	575	735
Totals	2,896	3,098	1,303	1,449	1,549	1,334	947	1,148

North America

Enrolments of students from North America (overwhelmingly the United States of America) are predominantly within the public tertiary education institutions.  

Table 9: North America student enrolments

	United      States of America		Canada
	2007	2008	2007	2008
Schools.	86	64	16	24
Public Tertiary Education Institutions.	2,106	2,043	273	294
Private Training Establishments.	151	144	98	82
Totals	2,343	2,251	387	400

 

Latin America

Enrolments of students from Latin America (defined as the Central and South America regions) were mainly with private training establishments.  Enrolment information for the top four source countries is stated in Table 10.

Table 10: Latin America student enrolments

	Brazil		Chile		Argentina		Colombia
	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008
Schools.	291	389	49	42	10	17	7	28
Public Tertiary Education Institutions.	104	95	96	92	25	24	27	23
Private Training Establishments.	2,022	1,997	309	391	210	114	173	276
Totals	2,417	2,481	454	525	245	155	207	327

  

Footnote

3. Student visas are applied for by people resident in other countries.  Student permits are usually applied for by people who have already arrived in New Zealand, who wish to study here.