The number of students enrolled at the University of Otago this semester has dropped by 325 compared with the corresponding time last year, and that is just the way the university wants it.
Concerned at spiralling roll growth, looming overcrowded campuses and the prospect of being penalised for exceeding its Government-imposed domestic roll cap, the university severely restricted enrolments in semester two last year and introduced a two-tier domestic enrolment system this year.
Domestic students are New Zealanders and a small number of overseas students whose governments have reciprocal education funding agreements with New Zealand.
The new system caps most first-year course intakes, offers preferential entry to academically able and postgraduate domestic students and requires people over the age of 20 without a university entrance qualification to complete an assessment to gauge their suitability for university study.
As of the beginning of April, enrolments totalled 18,347 equivalent full-time students (efts), 325 efts, or 1.7%, fewer than the corresponding time last year, vice-chancellor Prof Sir David Skegg said at a university council meeting yesterday.
Domestic enrolments were at 16,894 efts and international enrolments 1453 efts.
Only domestic enrolments had declined, Prof Skegg said. More particularly, there had been a decline in first-year enrolments, Dunedin school-leaver enrolments and enrolments by people over 20 without university entrance qualifications.
International enrolments had increased by about twice the forecast rate. International efts were up 9.6% on the same time last year, with first-year international enrolments up 31% on the corresponding period last year.
The new enrolment system had achieved the university's objective, he said.
"We are meeting our strategic direction document objectives to maintain our roll, or increase it at a manageable rate, and recruit a higher proportion of international, postgraduate and high-calibre students."
The drop in semester one enrolments this year meant Otago would not have to severely restrict semester two enrolments as it did last year, he said.
By the end of the year, Prof Skegg expected the domestic roll to be within 1.5% of the roll cap.
"The number of international students may be significantly higher than expected, although it is too early to predict what effect the publicity about the Canterbury earthquake might have on international enrolments across all New Zealand institutions," he said.
Institutions can enrol as many international students as they wish because international students pay full fees and are not subsidised by the New Zealand government.
