International student enrolments in New Zealand 2004-2010 Publications

Publication Details

This report is the latest in a series of annual summaries of the publicly available data, from three main sources, on the number of enrolments of international students with New Zealand education providers.

Author(s): International Division, Ministry of Education.

Date Published: April 2011

Introduction

This report covers the period from 2004 to 2010.  Summary information is also stated on the numbers of approved student visas and permits during 2004 to 2010, and international enrolments in tertiary (higher) education.

This information is disaggregated by origin, according to the key markets of North Asia, South-East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and North America. The estimated economic value-added to New Zealand from international education is also referenced.

Summary

From a peak of 121,190 international fee-paying enrolments in 2003 there was a 25% decline to 91,392 enrolments in 2008. This decline initially mainly affected private training establishments and schools, and from 2005 a reduction in total enrolments within the public tertiary education sector was also recorded. In 2009 there was a 6% increase in international enrolments, reversing the trend since 2003, and 3% growth occurred in 2010. The main beneficiaries of this growth were private training establishments, particularly English language schools. A graphical representation of this data is shown in Chart 1.

Table 1: International enrolments by provider groups
Note:
  1. Source: Export Education Levy database for the full calendar year for schools, public tertiary education institutions, and private providers (described as 'SDR' and 'non-SDR' private training establishments). The latter category includes English language schools.  Public Tertiary Education Institutions are the 8 universities and 20 polytechnics/institutes of technology. Subsidiary providers are the English-language training affiliates of the universities and some high schools.
2004200520062007200820092010
Schools
18,311 14,447 13,934 15,512 16,015 16,898 16,486
Polytechnics/ Institutes of Technology
12,599 11,965 10,721 10,625 10,586 10,994 11,740
Universities
29,821 27,640 24,540 21,748 19,562 19,424 19,678
Private Providers
50,324 42,372 43,888 43,435 42,329 46,991 48,491
Subsidiary Providers
2,500 1,843 2,211 2,618 2,900 3,671 3,485
Totals
113,555 98,267 95,294 93,938 91,392 96,978 99,880
Annual % Change
-6% -13% -3% -1% -3% 6% 3%
Chart 1: Enrolments of international students in New Zealand, by provider groups

Image of Chart 1: Enrolments of international students in New Zealand, by provider groups.

Footnote

  1. The tertiary education sector includes the publicly-funded institutions of the universities, institutes of technology/polytechnics, and wananga; and the private training establishments (PTEs) that receive government funding for their students.

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