Difficult economic times may be contributing to the success of the University of Otago's latest summer school.
Provisional enrolments had a positive start, reaching 2610 when the annual six-week-long school began this week.
Eventual final enrolments are likely to top the overall school record of 2199 in 2006, organisers say.
Otago University Students Association president Edwin Darlow said it remained unclear exactly why enrolments had risen, but one factor could be the greater difficulty which some students were having in finding summer holiday work, given the economic downturn.
The rising roll benefited Dunedin economically and it was always good to see students using their time constructively, Mr Darlow said yesterday.