Executive Summary

Domestic enrolments by Pasifika peoples in formal tertiary education increased from 2007 to 2008 by 1.8 percent overall. This compared to an increase of 8.4 percent from 2006 to 2007. In 2008, enrolments increased for Tongans, up 7.8 percent, Other Pasifika, up 3.3 percent, Fijians, up 2.3 percent, and Samoans, up 1.5 percent. Enrolments made by Tokelauans decreased from 2007 to 2008 by 8.3 percent while enrolments by Cook Islanders and Niueans remained stable.

Students identifying themselves as Samoan made 13,400 enrolments in 2008 (out of a total of 29,800 domestic Pasifika enrolments). After Samoans, Cook Islanders were the second largest Pasifika student group followed by Tongan students who had the biggest increase in their number from 2007 to 2008.

Table 1 below lists the number of enrolments in formal qualifications of more than one week's duration in 2008 for each Pasifika ethnicity. Also included are the proportions each ethnicity represented of total Pasifika enrolments in 2008 and of the total New Zealand population aged 15 years and over in 2006.

About the data used in this fact-sheet:

The information presented here refers to New Zealand's domestic Pasifika students enrolled in provider-based formal qualifications of more than one week's duration, unless otherwise stated.

Cook Islanders, Niueans and Tokelauans are grouped with domestic Pasifika students, whether they are resident in New Zealand or not. Fijian, Tongan and Samoan students who are not New Zealand citizens or residents are classed as international students.

In 2000, the data collection was extended to record multiple ethnicities. Before this, the number of Pasifika students was under-stated. Only one ethnicity was collected before 2000, while now up to three ethnicities are collected and students are counted in each group.

Students may be enrolled with a tertiary education provider at any time during the year.

From 1999 onwards, information on students in private training establishments has been included in the main statistical collections. Private providers are included in those collections if they receive government enrol-ments-based funding or if their students were eligible to apply for loans or allowances.

The equivalent full-time student (EFTS) unit referred to in this factsheet is a measure or 'size' of each student's enrolment. One equivalent full-time student unit represents the load taken by a student enrolled full-time for one year. Part-time study years are expressed as proportions of an EFTS, for example, 0.75 EFTS. The equivalent full-time student count is the sum of the EFTS units for a year.

The equivalent full-time student count used in this fact-sheet does not equate to the count of student component-funded learners.

Study in lower-level certificates remains stable¹

Fifity percent of Pasifika students were enrolled in certicate-level qualifications in 2008 and in 2007.

While lower-level certificate study by Pasifika women decreased for five out of the seven ethnicities, the decreases were small, and the proportions of Cook Islanders and Tongans studying level 1 to 3 certificates actually increased. Similarly, for Pasifika men, the proportions in level 1 to 3 certificates for the larger groups remained stable or increased slightly with the more significant decreases occurring in the smaller groups. Among male students, 36 percent of Samoans studied lower-level certificates, 49 percent of Cook Islanders and 39 percent of Tongans. The proportion of Fijian men in level 1 to 3 certificates increased from 20 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2008.

Figure 1: Samoans, Cook Islanders, Tongans and Fijians in bachelors-level study

From 2007 to 2008, study by Pasifika women at bachelors level increased for Samoans (up 1.4 percentage points), Cook Islanders (up 0.7 percentage points), Tokelauans (up 1.8 percentage points) and Other Pasifika (up 2.4 percentage points). Bachelors-level study remained stable for Niuean women in 2008 and it decreased slightly for Tongan and Fijian women. Study by Pasifika men at bachelors level increased from 2007 to 2008 by 3.4 percentage points for Other Pasifika and by 2.7 percentage points for Niueans. Bachelors-level study by Pasifika men decreased for the other ethnicities with the decreases ranging from 0.7 percentage points to 3.8 percentage points.

Figure 2:  Niueans, Tokelauans and Other Pasifika in bachelors-level study

The gender balance among Pasifika students has moved considerably in favour of women over the last 10 years. Comparing the 2008 year to 1998 shows that the proportion of female students increased for each of the ethnicities as follows: Samoans 60 percent (up from 54 percent), Cook Islanders 60 percent (up from 55 percent), Tongans 57 percent (up from 52 percent), Fijians 53 percent (up from 50 percent), Niueans 61 percent (up from 55 percent), Tokelauans 59 percent (up from 52 percent) and Other Pasifika 60 percent (up from 54 percent). In Figure 3 the enrolments for the two biggest Pasifika student groups are graphed by gender.

Figure 3: Samoans and Cook Islanders in formal tertiary education by gender

More recently, from 2007 to 2008, the proportion of female students decreased for Fijian and Tokelauan students by one percentage point and for Tongan students by two percentage points. In the case of Cook Islanders the gender balance was 60 percent in favour of women in 2008 compared to 63 percent in 2003.

Figure 4: Tongans and Fijans in formal tertiary education by gender

Trends in tertiary qualifications and Pasifika students

Over the years from 1998 to 2008, the proportion of Pasifika people aged 15 years and over with a bachelors or higher qualification more than doubled from 2.4 percent in 1998 to 5.9 percent in 2008. Figures 5 to 8 illustrate steady increases in the number of Pasifika students completing tertiary education qualifications.

Progress toward higher achievement for Pasifika people is likely in the foreseeable future as the number of Pasifika students aged under 25 years enrolled in qualifications at level 4 and above has risen significantly over the last five years – 5.0 percent, on average, per year. As younger students tend to study with the aim of getting a qualification it is expected that qualification completion rates for Pasifika students will increase.

Overall, the proportion of Pasifika people with a tertiary qualification has improved at a slower rate than the increase in the participation of Pasifika students. The proportion of Pasifika people with a tertiary qualification has varied over the last 10 years from 24 percent to 31 percent of the Pasifika population aged 15 years and over. Information from the Household Labour Force Survey for the 2008 year shows that 28 percent of Pasifika held a tertiary qualification, compared to 50 percent for all New Zealanders aged 15 years and over.

Note: Data for 2007 is missing from Figures 5 to 8 due to process changes made to the collection of qualification completions. Because of transitional problems, some providers were unable to return their qualification completions records for 2007.

Figure 5: Pasifika female students who completed a qualification by ethnicity

Figure 6: Pasifika female students who completed a qualification by ethnicity

Figure 7: Pasifika male students who completed a qualification by ethnicity

Figure 8: Pasifika male students who completed a qualification by ethnicity

Broad fields of study

In 2009, the Ministry of Education introduced new field of study information focussing on the courses studied by tertiary education students. This new approach aims to strengthen the links between the demand for skills and knowledge from the labour market and their supply by the education sector. Seventy-one fields of study are now available by ethnic group from the Ministry's Education Counts website.

Based on equivalent full-time student units, the proportion of Samoans studying management and commerce remained stable from 2007 to 2008 at 29 percent. Society and culture was the next largest field of study for Samoans at 22 percent, followed by education at 9.8 percent and creative arts at 8.0 percent. Similarly, the top four common broad fields of study of Cook Islanders in 2008 were managerment and commerce (30 percent) followed by society and culture (19 percent), creative arts (7.4 percent) and education (6.2 percent).Management and commerce and

society and culturewere also the top two fields of study for each of the other Pasifika ethnicities.Health

was the third most common field for Tokelauans and Other Pasifika (12 percent each) and also for Fjians (11 percent). Fijians were the only Pasifika ethnicity in 2008 to have almost 10 percent of students in the field of natural and physical sciences. The proportions of the other ethnicities studying natural and physical sciences in 2008 ranged from 3.0 percent of Cook Island students to 7.6 percent of Other Pasifika students.

Footnote

1. This section is based on equivalent full-time student units.