Travel to tertiary: An analysis of how far school leavers travelled for tertiary study Publications
Publication Details
This report examines the mobility of young school leavers in terms of the distance travelled to undertake their tertiary studies and in terms of the proportion of students travelling out of their regions. The analysis can provide information to help answer policy-relevant questions about tertiary education provision, including geographic access barriers and network of provision.
Author(s): Gabriele Frigerio Porta, Tertiary Sector Performance Analysis, Ministry of Education
Date Published: October 2022
Summary
The population analysed is young adults who left school in the years 2009 to 2018 and who enrolled in a public tertiary institution the following year in programmes at any level.
Key findings, including some regional highlights, are presented below:
- Half of school leavers began their tertiary study less than 20 km from where they went to school. However, the remaining half travelled long distances. A third of students commenced their tertiary study 150 km or more from their school.
- School leavers tended to stay within their respective North or South Island for their tertiary studies. But South Island students travelled greater distances on average.
- Otago was the region with the biggest net inflow of school-leaving tertiary students. It had twice as many school leavers from the North Island as from the South Island. This contrasts with Auckland which had predominantly local school-leaving students, because of the high level of access to a wide range of tertiary study options.
- University students were more likely to travel further for study than students at the former Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics.
- Students travelled further for bachelors study than for qualifications below degree level. Broadly, the higher the tertiary qualification enrolled for, the greater the average distance travelled.
- Students also travelled widely varying distances depending on their field of study.
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