The number of international students in New Zealand is on the rise for the first time in six years.
Education New Zealand figures released yesterday show 93,500 fee-paying foreign students studied in the country in 2009, up from 88,570 in 2008 but well down on the 121,190 students in 2003, The Press reported.
Education New Zealand chief executive Robert Stevens said people tended to stay in education longer or enter tertiary education in tough economic times.
The organisation had also carried out intensive marketing last year in China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, North America, Brazil, and Germany,
One campaign saw the organisation run secondary school cricket competitions in New Delhi, India.
More than two-thirds of New Zealand's international students studied English last year, 19% studied business computing and 3.8% studied tourism-hospitality.
China had the biggest number of students with 20,780 last year, followed by South Korea (15,905), Japan (9697) and India (8673).
The figures come as universities look to bring forward plans to restrict enrolments due to tighter government funding, and increased demand for tertiary education.
Government funding criteria changed in 2008 to cover only an agreed number of students at each tertiary institution, prompting universities to cap student numbers.
