The University of Otago campus. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Enrolments have increased at Otago University, breaking three years of decline.
The University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology have also said their enrolments had increased.
Otago said its full-time equivalent enrolments were 469 EFTS or 2.7 percent higher than the same time last year at 18,018.
The university said the increase was its first since 2021 when, according to annual reports, it had about 19,603 EFTS.
Last year Otago forecast a deficit following [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/511835/university-enrolments-drop-at-otago-rise-at-waikato
three years of falling enrolments].
The university said this year's increase included 6.6 percent more first-year domestic students and 26.6 percent more first-year foreign students.
Otago's vice-chancellor Grant Robertson said the result was heartening in financially challenging times.
"This is positive news, not only for 2025, but also beyond that, as the pipeline impact of a return to first-year growth will benefit us into the future," he said.
The University of Auckland said it had 29,123 full-time equivalent students in Feburary, nearly eight percent more than the same time last year.
"Postgraduate enrolments rose from 6,168 to 7,605 EFTS (11,912 to 13,768 students) and there was a 30 percent jump in school leavers from 4,016 to 5,236 EFTS (5,062 to 6,347 students)," it said.
AUT said it was expecting more students this year, but did not provide figures.
Enrolments at most universities dropped in 2022 and 2023 after spiking in 2021.
Since the pandemic began in early 2020, Canterbury and Lincoln have increased their share of domestic enrolments while Victoria and Massey lost ground.
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