Nelson and West Coast students moving for uni least likely to return home

Students who grew up in Nelson and the West Coast then move away for tertiary study are some of the least likely to return to work in their home town, a Ministry of Education report has found.

But while some say attracting graduate students can be difficult, there's no shortage of opportunities for those wanting a start in the regions.

Hannah Greenhough grew up in Nelson and ended up working for a biotech company there after studying microbiology at the University of Otago.

"Luckily in Nelson there are quite a few scientific institutes like Cawthron and Plant & Food and NIWA so there were other options for me."

She spent the last nine years working as a research technician at Cawthron and was now a PhD student there. Growing up in Nelson meant she was aware of the independent research organisation, but she was not sure she would have known about it otherwise.

"I didn't necessarily get a great overview at school of what careers you could chase in science so places like Cawthron are great starting points for new grads, you get work experience, you get to save money and live somewhere cheaper than the big centres and from there, you can really go anywhere."

The Ministry of Education analysed the regional flows of student travel after tertiary study and according to its report published last week, found 72 percent of those from Nelson, 70 percent from the Northland and 68 percent from the West Coast did not return to their home town.

Nelson-based Trinder Engineering was often on the lookout for graduates but its research and innovation manager David Aitchison said recruiting them could be difficult.

"Every year we take on students in one form or another, either as interns over their summer break period and we have an advert out at the minute, we are looking for a younger member of staff, ideally a fresh graduate and we've been looking maybe two years for that person."

The company now engages with students at the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers fair and directly with students at the University of Canterbury.

Aitchison said Nelson had grown from being a service centre for local industries, to having its own identity, with progressive businesses who had invested in state of the art technology to produce innovative products.

As those opportunities increased, he said Nelson would become an even more attractive place for graduates.

Managing director Kerry Hill said the company had to search out graduates, instead of it being the other way around.

"We've got to find them and try and throw carrots around and talk about the lifestyle."

He said graduates who did not come from Nelson might think of it as a sleepy hollow.

"There really is a deterrent, our biggest successes are ones that are into the mountain biking and outdoors so they are aware of what is on the doorstep."

Nelson Regional Development Agency chief executive Fiona Wilson said the report was not all negative.

It showed a significant portion of students were staying in the region to study at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, while graduates from other regions were also moving to the top of the South.

"Pre-Covid we had initiatives looking at attracting summer interns and graduates to get experience and exposure with the companies that are here, so they realise that the jobs are here."

She said as the blue economy and the tech economy grew in Nelson and Tasman, it would attract more graduates.

Development West Coast chief executive Heath Milne said the report findings were not a surprise, and for the last three years, the trust had issued four scholarships a year for tertiary study, worth more than $30,000 each.

"We are looking for the best students on the coast that we can tie into coming back here, we arrange for them to have work here in the summer break and they are also linked to a West Coast business for two years after the end of their studies.

"What we are thinking is if we can get people to come back here for the early part of their career, a number of them might stay and establish themselves and even if they decided to go away after that there is a fairly good chance that they will consider coming back, mid career."

It came after a workshop in 2021 revealed that young people did not think there were many opportunities after leaving school on the West Coast.

"We recognised that we do need to promote what we do have here better within our own young people because there are some great career options in many industries and those young people just didn't seem to know about it."

Milne said the region had a bit of everything, from primary industries and agriculture to tech startups, conservation and the minerals sector.

One of this year's scholarship recipients is Cameron Dickey, who grew up in Greymouth and is studying health science at Otago University.

He had wanted to be a doctor from a young age and had been involved with St John Youth, done respite care and worked part time as a healthcare assistant at Te Nīkau, Grey Hospital.

"I think a lot of people plan on heading away, it is definitely a huge issue and I've noticed not a lot of people want to come back to the coast.

"I have always thought Greymouth is such a good place, it is such a close knit community, there is a lot of support and there is a lot of opportunities here, people just don't always see it."

Dickey was hoping to become a rural GP and work on the West Coast, to help reduce health inequities.