WELLINGTON: Tuition fee revenue for international education topped $1bn in New Zealand for the first time last year, as enrolments grew by 13%, according to the newly released Education New Zealand snapshot report. The Private Training Establishment sector, which excludes English language schools, claims the biggest share of international students. The income generated from tuition fees reached just over $1bn last year, an increase of $146m, or 17%, from 2014.
This growth has been steady following 17% increase in revenue the previous year. “It is important that regional New Zealand shares fully in the growth of our international education sector” “For a small exporting nation – where traditional reliance on primary products is being overtaken by the rise of people-driven services such as tourism and international education – this is a great achievement,” said Grant Macpherson, chief executive of Education New Zealand, in the report. Despite the PTE sector accounting for the highest number of international student enrolments, most of the tuition fee revenue came from the university sector ($371.8m).
As in 2014, most of the enrolment growth in 2015 was felt by the PTE sector, which last year claimed 34% of the number of international student enrolments. The university sector claimed 21% of the enrolments. The number of international student enrolments in New Zealand across all sectors reached 125,011 last year – a 13% increase on the year before. China accounted for the highest proportion, at 27%.
Combined with India, these two countries made up 50% of all international student enrolments. Japan was the third largest source market, accounting for 8% of enrolments. India was also the source of much of the growth, as in 2014, with an increase of 45%, or 9,013 student enrolments, driven largely by the PTE sector. The PTE sector also accounted for the largest growth from China, up by 1,429. Korea was the fourth largest source market in 2015, representing just 6% of international student enrolments. This is down from five years ago, when the country was New Zealand’s second largest source market at 14%.
