International Student Enrolments in New Zealand 2003-2009

International enrolments by origin

The information on enrolments can be disaggregated by the reported origins of the students, as shown in Table 2 and Chart 2. From 2006 the Export Education Levy system was used to request information from providers on the nationalities of their students, so the period for this data is different from the information on total enrolments.

The key trends evident since 2006 have been the falls in enrolments of Chinese students and Japanese students. These negative trends have been largely counter-balanced by rapid rises in enrolments of students from India and the Middle East, and to a lesser extent of students from Europe and Latin America.

The decline in Chinese interest up until 2009 has usually been ascribed to intensified competition from other countries for Chinese students (notably from Australia, the USA, Great Britain, and Canada), a greatly increased provision of higher education opportunities in China itself, and changes in the value of the New Zealand dollar.  The last factor is understood to have had a particular impact on enrolments with English language schools.

Since 2006 there has been overall growth recorded from India, and from the source regions of the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America.

Chart 2: Enrolments of international students, by origin

Chart 3 states the proportions of total international enrolments by student origins. In 2006 the ‘top three’ (China, Japan and South Korea) made up 66% of all enrolments. This proportion reduced to 50% for 2009. The increasing proportion of enrolments from India and the Middle East is clearly apparent in their respective shadings.

Chart 3: Proportion of total international enrolments, by origin