Education sector booming

An overseas student studying in Palmerston North isn’t surprised the city’s international education sector is booming, given its natural beauty and compact layout.

New figures show the sector has added $115 million to the economy in 2017 and with a swelling wave of new student visas this year that figure was expected to further rise.

Institute of the Pacific United student Sunisha Thapa said she wasn’t surprised Manawatu¯ did so well attracting international students like herself.

She’s studied in Palmerston North for six months and it already felt like her new hometown, she said. Thapa’s parents wanted her to study in Australia or New York, but she’d found promotional material for Manawatu¯ online and decided on Palmerston North.

She is from Kathmandu, Nepal, which has a population of 3 million people. She wanted a different experience. ‘‘I didn’t want to go to Auckland. I’ve lived in large cities all my life.’’

Palmerston North appealed to many others from Asian countries for the same reasons, Thapa said.