International Student Enrolments in New Zealand 2002 – 2008

International tertiary enrolments by qualification level

The tertiary Single Data Return (SDR) system operated by the Ministry of Education allows for detailed extraction of data on the enrolments of international students in public and private tertiary education providers, according to their qualification level.  Table 11 presents the trend in international enrolments since 2002 (note – this data is not directly comparable with the Export Education Levy data in the Appendices).  

It is notable that there have been marked changes in demand from international students for the qualifications taught by tertiary education providers.  From 2002 to 2007 there was a 55% decline in international enrolments in certificate courses.  Similarly, from 2003 to 2007 there was a 35% fall in enrolments in diploma courses.  Conversely, there has been a marked rise in international enrolments in postgraduate courses, rising 147% from 2002 to the end of 2008.  There was a very marked increase in international doctorate (PhD) enrolments from 2005 to 2008 (rising from 692 to 1,960 students).  This increase can largely be attributed to the ‘domestic fees status for new international PhD students’ policy introduced from 2006.

 

Table 11: International enrolments by qualification level

Notes: Postgraduate totals include Honours degrees & Postgraduate Diplomas; Masters; & Doctorates. * Students who were enrolled at more than one qualification level have been counted in each level.  Consequently, the sum of students is less than the sum of course enrolments.
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	% of total, 2008
Certificate	19,326	15,140	12,377	9,018	8,335	8,768	9,484	22%
Diploma	9,357	14,467	15,604	13,726	10,674	9,323	9,712	23%
Undergraduate	13,384	18,719	23,184	23,910	21,685	19,391	17,022	40%
Postgraduate	2,482	3,971	4,835	4,810	4,969	5,442	6,124	14%
Total enrolments	44,549	52,297	56,000	51,464	45,663	42,924	42,342	100%
Total    students*	40,825	47,056	50,395	47,278	42,705	39,842	39,783

 

Chart 5: Proportion of international enrolments by qualification level

 

Table 12 shows there were substantial variations in the profile of qualifications enrolments according to the regional origins of international students.  In 2008 the great majority of international tertiary students came from Asia (71%), followed by Europe (10%) and Northern America (8%).  The largest proportion of Asia enrolments were in undergraduate courses (41%), as were most North American enrolments (58%).  European enrolments had the highest proportion of participation in postgraduate courses (29%).

A comparison with New Zealand tertiary enrolments during 2008 shows that, overall, international enrolments were much more focused on undergraduate studies (40% vs 28%), and had a substantially higher proportion of postgraduate enrolments (14% vs 8%).  During 2008 the 39,783 international tertiary students made up nearly 9% of all tertiary students enrolled with New Zealand tertiary providers.

Table 12: Tertiary enrolments by region & level, 2008

	Africa	Asia	Central    & South America	Europe	Middle East	Northern    America	Pacific	New      Zealand
Certificate	247	6,853	310	717	651	200	506	229,593
Diploma	78	7,348	109	830	101	596	650	63,524
Undergraduate	132	12,622	104	1,385	319	1,746	714	128,746
Postgraduate	143	3,655	160	1,215	205	476	269	35,961
Total enrolments	600	30,478	683	4,147	1,276	3,018	2,139	457,824
Total students	568	28,395	660	3,955	1,203	2,987	2,014	420,634
% of students	1%	71%	2%	10%	3%	8%	5%

 

Chart 6: Proportion of course enrolments by region of origin, 2008