Summary

The report provides an insight into the movements of tertiary students throughout New Zealand and helps to answer questions about the relationship between the location of tertiary provision and the decision-making of tertiary students. It measures the impact of factors such as geographic access to tertiary provision, ethnic group, highest school qualification and tertiary campus on the decisions of how far students will travel for tertiary study.

The report is restricted to full-time students who were under 20 years of age and left secondary school in the previous year to attend a public tertiary education institution campus. The rationale for these restrictions is that these students are likely to travel for educational purposes, whereas older or part-time students are likely to have more varied reasons for travelling, such as family and work.

Some findings from the report are:

• Geographic access to tertiary provision is the most significant factor in determining how far a student travelled to attend a tertiary campus. Students who were comparatively more isolated from tertiary provision had a higher probability of travelling further than their nearest campus for tertiary study.
• While field of study influenced how far students chose to travel for tertiary study, it was a field of study at a particular campus that was most important in this decision.
• The influence of the tertiary campus was found to be an important factor in the decision of how far a student will travel for tertiary study. Certain campuses have a higher probability of attracting students from far away.
• Māori students were more likely to travel long distances for tertiary study, while Pasifika students were more likely to attend a tertiary campus near their home-base than other students.
• Women were more likely to travel long distances for tertiary study than men.

Note: The access variable used in this study has been adapted from a similar Australian study and is designed to measure a student's relative geographic access to tertiary provision from their last secondary school. This variable has been designed by the Ministry of Education for the purposes of analysis only.