Student numbers on the rise at Massey University
Student numbers at Massey University have had a solid increase this year.
University enrolments are up domestically and internationally this semester, and the number of equivalent full-time students is up by 2.4 per cent compared with last year.
The overall student headcount on the three campuses, Palmerston North, Albany and Wellington, is also up.
This semester Massey has 16,602 equivalent full-time students, up by 380 people from 16,222 a year ago, a rise of 2.4 per cent.
There are also 2468 international equivalent full-time students, compared with 2428 last year, which is up by 1.6 per cent.
In an overall headcount there are 25,660 enrolments compared with 24,893 a year ago. It is a change of 3.1 per cent, nearly 800 people.
Massey spokesman James Gardiner said university enrolments were counter cyclical.
‘‘If the economy is doing poorly you tend to get more enrolments. When employment is strong we tend not to.
‘‘At the moment we’ve got strong employment and enrolments are growing.’’
Gardiner said if there was an increase in students at the Wellington or Auckland campuses it benefited Palmerston North because most staff were based in Manawatu¯ .
The headcount for international students is up 4.5 per cent to 4357 and the domestic headcount is up 2.8 per cent to 21,303.
The Albany campus has 6022 students, Manawatu¯ 5211, Wellington 2911 and there are 11,147 distance students.
International student numbers are up at all campuses, 1.3 per cent at Auckland, 6.3 per cent at Manawatu¯ and 4 per cent at Wellington.
For the full year last year Massey enrolled 30,296 students, 18,703 of whom were equivalent full-time students, and 5331 were international students, of which 3443 were equivalent full-time students.
The Government’s fees-free study policy has also had an effect at Massey. The policy started last year and allows the first year of postschool training or education to be fees-free.
Last year 2603 Massey students were eligible for fees-free study and by March this year there were 1956 eligible.
Gardiner said the number would change as enrolments continued during the year.
There was concern the fallout from the cancellation of a Don Brash speaking event at the Palmerston North campus in August last year had damaged the institution’s reputation.
But it doesn’t appear to have affected student enrolment numbers.