Overseas Student Recruitment Success

Outstanding recruitment success by Massey University's International Students Office has seen the largest ever intake of overseas students at the University this semester.

International Students Office director Bruce Graham says that this semester there are more than 1500 international students in degree and diploma courses over Massey's three campuses, an increase of 20 percent on the same period last year.

"Of these, only six have so far come through the College of Business' NetBig programme, so we are very satisfied with our recruitment initiatives," he says.

The most significant increases in overseas students have occurred at the Wellington and Albany campuses, and Mr Graham says this reflects the pattern of Chinese students, in particular, who prefer to study in large cities.

China has now replaced Malaysia as the University's largest source country of international students. Mr Graham attributes this partly to the large number of Chinese students who are studying at New Zealand secondary schools, so the market for recruiting international students is now both inside New Zealand and overseas.

Student numbers at the University's English Language Centres in all campuses have more than doubled in the past year. The centres provide academic English courses to help foreign students to prepare for admission to university. The programmes have proved so popular that both the Wellington and Palmerston North centres are unable to accept further enrolments because they have reached capacity.

The International Students Office Foundation Studies programme, which began in July last year with five students, now has more than 50 enrolled in its Palmerston North programme. The University plans to establish a Foundation Studies programme at Albany from July next year.

Mr Graham says while he is pleased with this year's recruitment success, the International Students Office is focusing on market diversification, with recruitment missions being undertaken this year in the United States and India.

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