Profile & Trends 2008: New Zealand's Tertiary Education Sector

Research in the tertiary education sector 

The research performance of the tertiary sector improved in several areas in 2008. In the area of research training, enrolments in doctoral degrees increased substantially. The amount of study at doctoral level, in terms of equivalent full-time student units, accounted for 2.4 percent of all tertiary education enrolments in 2008. The latest increase in doctoral study was driven by a significant increase in international enrolments, which occurred in response to a change in government policy in 2006 to fund international doctoral students on the same basis as domestic students. 

The amount of research contract income earned by the universities per   academic staff member rose in real terms between 2007 and 2008. 

Total research output increased at five out of the six universities that   reported research output in 2008. The academic impact of research by the New Zealand universities relative to the world average increased between 1998 to 2002 and 2003 to 2007 in eight out of the 10 broad subjects monitored. Three subject areas – health, medicine and public health; mathematics; and information sciences and technology – had an academic impact above the world average in 2003 to 2007.

Figure 1.9: Participation in doctoral study by gender