New Zealand education sector booming thanks to overseas students

Students from countries such as Saudi Arabia, India, and Vietnam are contributing to huge growth in New Zealand's education industry.

The New Zealand education industry brought in $664 million more in student fee income than it did in the previous year. According to the Department of Labour's migration trends report, this included a 10 percent overall growth in revenue from international students.

What is surprising is that the total number of students entering New Zealand on student visas actually dropped slightly. The number of Chinese students dropped last year, continuing a downward trend since 2003 when they represented 47 percent of international students in New Zealand.

However, students from Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and India increased in 2010.
"India has become the largest source country of new international students to New Zealand, but China remains the single largest source country of international students," the report said.

"Over 73,400 international students were approved to study in New Zealand in 2009-10 with export education contributing over $2.3 billion annually to the economy."