International student enrolments in New Zealand 2003-2009 Publications

Publication Details

This report summarises the publicly available data, from four main sources, on enrolments of international students within New Zealand education provider sectors from 2003 to 2009. Summary information is also stated on the numbers of approved student visas and permits during 2003 to 2009.

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

Date Published: May 2010

Introduction

This report summarises the publicly available data, from three main sources, on enrolments of international students within New Zealand education provider sectors from 2003 to 2009. Summary information is also stated on the numbers of approved student visas and permits during 2003 to 2009.

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

Summary

From a peak of 121,190 international fee-paying enrolments in 2003 there has been a 23% decline to 93,505 enrolments in 2009. 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 a near 6% increase in international enrolments was recorded, reversing the trend since 2003. 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 training establishments (described as 'SDR' and 'non-SDR' private providers). The latter category includes English language schools. Public Tertiary Education Institutions are the 8 universities and 20 polytechnics/institutes of technology. Subsidiary providers are mainly the English-language training affiliates of some universities and high schools.
 2003200420052006200720082009
Schools 20,935 18,311 14,447 13,934 15,574 15,660 15,462
Public Tertiary Education  Institutions 37,407 41,528 39,613 35,261 31,143 29,127 29,435
Private Training Establishments 58,406 50,324 42,372 43,888 41,977 40,896 44,941
Subsidiary Providers 4,442 2,500 1,843 2,211 2,617 2,891 3,667
Totals 121,190 112,663 98,275 95,294 91,311 88,574 93,505
Annual % change -5% -7% -13% -3% -4% -3% 6%

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, wananga, and teachers colleges; and the private training establishments (PTEs) that receive government funding for their students.

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