Very few fields of study prospered in recent years, tertiary enrolment figures for institutions including universities, wānanga, private providers and Te Pūkenga's polytechnic subsidiaries show. Photo: 123rf
The pandemic devastated enrolments in food and hospitality courses but drove more people to study building and psychology.
Tertiary enrolment figures for institutions including universities, wānanga, private providers and Te Pūkenga's polytechnic subsidiaries show how different subject areas fared in a roller-coaster two years.
In 2021 full-time student numbers jumped 4.4 percent when a surge of domestic enrolments more than made up for falling foreign student numbers, only to drop 7.7 percent in 2022 when a net 20,000 students left the tertiary education system.
Food, hospitality and personal services suffered a 24-percent drop in full-time equivalent students last year driven mostly by domestic students. The fall came on top of an 8.6-percent decline in 2021 caused by falling international student numbers and left the field with 4690 full-time equivalent students, 38 percent fewer than in 2019, before the pandemic began.
The number of full-time students in management and commerce courses dropped 11.6 percent or 4240 equivalent full-time students (EFTS) due to falling domestic and international student numbers in 2022, which followed a 7 percent drop (due to internationals) in 2021, leaving the field with 32,360 EFTS last year, about 10,000 or 24 percent fewer than in 2019.
A very few fields of study prospered.
Architecture and building had 18 percent more students last year than in 2019 after full-time students leaped 25 percent or 2500 in 2021 and fell by only 4.4 percent in 2022. Within that field, building and construction management, and carpentry and joinery experienced the most growth.
Psychology increased 14.4 percent in 2021 and a further 1.3 percent last year.
The number of full-time students in human welfare studies and services jumped 26 percent in 2021 mostly due to increased enrolments in Community Client Care courses, before dropping 6.4 percent in 2022.
The biggest area, in the broad field of society and culture, language and literature, saw its numbers jump by 2650 full-time students (14.5 percent) in 2021 thanks mostly to more enrolments in te reo Māori courses only to drop by 2075 EFTS (9.9 percent) in 2022.
Education's full-time numbers jumped 7.8 percent or 1175 EFTS in 2021 but fell 12.7 percent or 2070 EFTS in 2022.
Science gained 705 EFTS or 3.2 percent in 2021 but lost 1635 EFTS or 7.3 percent the very next year with nearly half of that fall coming from maths and statistics.
Health courses gained 2340 EFTS or 7.9 percent in 2021, losing 730 EFTS or 2.3 percent in 2022. Within that field courses in nursing and in community health had the biggest gains.
IT enrolments held steady in 2021 with increased domestic enrolments all but making up for falling internationals, but in 2022 the field's full-time student numbers bucked the trend affecting most other areas and increased 3.3 percent or 415 EFTS.
Engineering experienced a small increase (1.8 percent) in 2021 but in 2022 full-time numbers dropped by 1570 (7.4 percent), with the largest falls in civil engineering and electrical and electronic engineering.
The figures did not include industry training enrolments, which grew significantly in some fields. Building trainee numbers for example increased 62 percent between 2019 and 2021.
Te Pūkenga deputy chief executive Ako Delivery, Gus Gilmore, said the shift in enrolments had prompted changes at some of its polytechnic-based facilities.
"We've seen strong growth in building and construction and allied trades, we're actually growing and re-purposing our campuses to meet that growth."
"But in the hospo area where we've got commercial kitchens and the like, we're looking to reconfigure those or in some cases make that difficult decision and close them. We're really reluctant to do that because with the borders having been closed for a couple of years we don't want to make those rash decisions because we are seeing the international market rebound quite strongly."
Gilmore said the institute was reviewing all its facilities to improve their utilisation.
Most popular fields of study
More than a quarter of full-time equivalent tertiary students last year were studying courses in society and culture, four percentage points more than in 2013. The field covers subjects including tikanga and te reo Māori, psychology and law.
Management and commerce accounted for a smaller share of students than in 2013 with just over 13 percent of last year's EFTS, 4 percentage points less than a decade earlier.
Health grew its share by 2.5 percentage points to nearly 13 percent of all EFTS last year.
Science, engineering, and architecture and building all increased their share of the pie slightly.