Summary

The population analysed is young adults who left school in the years 2009 to 2014 and who enrolled in a public tertiary institution the following year in programmes at any level. The main objective of the report was to identify where these students were located seven years after beginning tertiary study, in terms of regional destinations or overseas and whether they were in employment or not.

The key findings include:

• Initially, school leavers travelling for tertiary education concentrated the cohort in regions with large tertiary campuses. However, seven years after beginning tertiary study the distribution was more widely spread across New Zealand.
  • The data showed that 69 percent of the cohort remained in the region where they had studied at the tertiary level.
  • Most regions therefore saw only a portion of the original school leaver cohort coming back after their tertiary study.
  • A portion of the cohort was overseas (13 percent).
• After tertiary study, some of the cohort moved to nearby regions, particularly within the North Island. This was a similar pattern to school leavers travelling to begin their tertiary education.^[1]
• Seven years after beginning tertiary study, most of the cohort was employed and the second largest group was overseas, regardless of the level of the qualification.
  • School leavers were more likely to be employed, rather than still studying, if they were originally from smaller regions, and even more likely if they had not completed their qualification.
  • Those in the cohort from the South Island, except Canterbury and Otago, were less likely to be in tertiary education compared to those from the North Island.
• School leavers in the cohort who had travelled to other regions for tertiary study were unlikely to have come back to their secondary school regions.
  • In ten regions, at least 50 percent of those who travelled elsewhere for tertiary study did not return.
  • The largest non-returning group was in regions with a main university campus.^[2] This group was less likely to go to other regions after tertiary study.
  • Auckland, Wellington and Otago were the commonest regions for school leavers who had travelled for tertiary study and stayed on.
• The portion of the cohort that did not travel for tertiary study was unlikely to be located elsewhere seven years later. Those who did were more likely to move overseas than to other regions of New Zealand.
  • Nationwide, 78 percent of the non-travelling group in the cohort was still in the same region. Auckland and Wellington were the regions with the largest proportion of stayers.
  • Those who travelled to other regions after tertiary study were likely to be in nearby regions.
  • The cohort from non-university regions who did not travel for tertiary study was more likely to be in another region than overseas. Those in the cohort who were overseas were mostly from the regions with a main university campus.

Footnotes

1. See Travel to tertiary: An analysis of how far school leavers travelled for tertiary study
2. Auckland, Waikato, Manawatū-Whanganui, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago.