Foreign student fees reach all-time high of $1.3b, though student numbers below previous peaks

6:29 am today

Foreign student fees reached an all-time high of $1.3 billion last year.

Photo: 123RF

Foreign student fees reached an all-time high of $1.3 billion last year even though student numbers were well below previous peaks.

The sums paid last year represented a recovery after fee income slumped from the previous high of $1.2b in 2019 to $483 million in 2022 as enrolments dropped due to Covid-related border closures.

The numbers showed universities and private tertiary institutes made more money than ever from international enrolments in 2025, while polytechnics, secondary schools, and English language schools had ground to make up.

The figures were collected as part of the Export Education Levy institutions paid the government for the costs of promoting and regulating the international education industry.

Universities received $737m in foreign student fees last year while private tertiary institutes collected $192m and polytechnics $153m.

Secondary schools collected $158m, below their 2019 high of $178m, while primary schools collected $22m, about $2m shy of their previous high in 2019.

Private institutions that did not receive government funding - generally English language schools - received $54m in fees, well below their 2015 high of $187m.

The figures showed there were 51,730 full-time equivalent foreign students last year, less than the 61,575 recorded in 2019 and well below the high of 70,480 recorded in 2016.

Universities had 20,600 full-time equivalent foreign students last year, slightly fewer than the 21,025 they enrolled in 2019.

Polytechnics had 6535, about half as many as their peak in 2016 and well below the 10,615 recorded in 2019.

Private institutions had 8345 students and schools 10,385.

The figures showed enrolments in the category including English language schools partially recovered after the pandemic lockdowns, but then remained at roughly the same level for the past three years with 5865 full-time equivalent students last year, down from previous highs of about 20,000 students.

English New Zealand chair Darren Conway.

Photo: RNZ / John Gerritsen

English New Zealand represented 15 major English language schools and its chair Darren Conway said enrolments had not bounced back because there was a global downturn in English enrolments.

"We've possibly not suffered quite as much as some other destinations have," he said.

Conway said schools in Australia, Canada, the USA and UK had suffered "fairly significant falls".

"Some of it is related to demand and some of it is to supply in that they've made it more difficult for students to get into those countries."

Conway said enrolments from China and Japan had fallen due to slow-downs in their economies.

Japan had been a mainstay for New Zealand's English schools for many years but enrolments were not as buoyant as in the past, he said.

Conway said this year had started well, but the Gulf crisis disrupted enrolments by driving up airfares and undermining student confidence.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.