Fewer enrol at Otago University

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Student numbers at the University of Otago have dropped for the first time in five years, partly as a result of an introduced enrolment limitation system for all the university's undergraduate degrees.

University of Otago deputy vice-chancellor academic and international Prof Vernon Squire said a drop in the number of enrolments at Otago's Christchurch campus had also contributed to an overall decline in student numbers.

A drop of about 67 equivalent full-time students (EFTS) at the Christchurch campus was a "direct consequence" of the quakes that had struck the city.

Enrolments from the Canterbury region had dropped by about 3.5%.

Otago's Christchurch campus building was damaged in the quake and this displaced about 617 students and staff from the facility.

The quake "adversely affected the ability of Christchurch-based health professionals to enrol for part-time postgraduate study in their usual numbers".

The university said it had received about 50 student transfers from Canterbury University and Lincoln University.

"Prior to this year, we did not track transferring numbers from individual universities, but we estimate ... the figure of 50 would compare with 10-12 per annum in prior years," Prof Squire said.

About 65 international students had also transferred from Canterbury or Lincoln after the February earthquake, although most of these were for one semester only.

The university was expected to experience an overall drop of about 1.7% in its enrolment figures, Prof Squire said.

EFTS enrolment figures from August recorded about 19,501 students at Otago University, but this was predicted to rise slightly, to about 19,585, as a result of "specialist postgraduate and continuing education courses" in the final quarter of the year.

Otago was committed to maintaining its student roll at a manageable level, given it had been growing at a rate that was "not manageable beyond the short term", Prof Squire said.

"Manageable" translated to an average annual growth rate of about 1.5% per annum, he said.

This compared with an average growth of about 3.2% in the years preceding 2011, which was more than double the figure Otago's campus master plan wanted to maintain.

"Burgeoning student-roll levels" in 2010, when figures reached a historic enrolment high of 22,139, were identified in the University of Otago annual report this year as a "particular challenge in delivering teaching programmes".

Ongoing student-roll growth has also been identified as placing additional pressures on campus facilities.

The slight drop in student numbers was not anticipated to pose any issues for Otago in regard to government subsidies or funding, "either for this year or the next".

Several factors might have contributed to the drop, Prof Squire said.

"It's a pretty complex picture this year, with the general economic and job market situation, demographic changes, the Canterbury earthquakes, our own enrolment limitation measures, and the Government's tightening of access to loans and allowances, all playing a part."

The number of Dunedin school-leaver enrolments and enrolments by people over 20 without university entrance qualifications has also fallen.

Otago extended its limitation measures, in place for its "professional" undergraduate degrees such as health sciences, law, teacher education, surveying, and physical education, to apply to general arts, science, and commerce degrees for 2011 courses.

Priority is given through a system of preferential entry and guaranteed place to applicants of a "high calibre" based on academic results at school or tertiary level.

Otago vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne told the Otago Daily Times in an interview shortly after her appointment to the chief executive role, the university had accepted all prospective undergraduates who had achieved university entrance qualifications in 2011.

This was expected to remain the case for next year, she said.