Students shun Kiwi universities
The number of international students in New Zealand had been growing for years after dropping to around 90.000 five years ago. This year the number of enrolments dropped with 6 percent, to under 92.000. The main reason according to Education New Zealand is the rise in tuition fees. It is all but certain that another drop in enrolments will not occur next year, since some of the factors are hard to correct.
USA preferred over Oceania
Institutes in New Zealand have become increasingly expensive. Both the increase in tuition fees and the high exchange rate of New Zealand’s dollar made the country less attractive for international students during these years of global recession. English language schools are hit hardest by the drop in students, the number of enrolments has dropped by more than 10 percent.
This drop is nothing compared to the drop the region of Canterbury has to endure. This region that suffered from a series of severe earthquakes, that partly destroyed Christchurch, sees its number of enrolments drop by 31 percent. This is another disappointment for the unfortunate region, since international students contribute a lot to the regional economy
Australia suffers from the same trend for some years now. Last year’s drop of 8.5 percent cost the Australian universities more than a billion euro. The reasons behind the Australian drop are slightly different. The new visa procedure might be, next to the high dollar, the main reason. As a result many interested students preferred the USA over Australia or New Zealand.
