Value of international education breaks $100 million mark

23 March 2017

Value of international education breaks the $100 million mark for region

The Economic Impact of International Education Report 2015/16 for Manawatū Whanganui has found the industry is now worth $100 million in foreign exchange earnings to the region.

For the first time, the report breaks down the region. The vast majority, $93m is attributable to Palmerston North and Manawatū.

The economic value add for Manawatū and Palmerston North is $67.8m. The sector supports 589 jobs in Manawatū, and each student spends an average of $33,221 per annum on living and tuition costs.

CEDA Acting Chief Executive Linda Stewart welcomed the report saying it showed the city and district were on track, if not ahead, of the goal we set last year to increase the economic value add to $80m (from the 2014/15 base of $62m) by 2020.

“When we launched the international education strategy we aimed to grow the economic value add by 28% or $18m.”

“While we’re not there yet, we are $5.8million closer to achieving that target,” says Ms Stewart.

CEDA International Education Development Manager Judy Bennett-Smith says the strategy’s focus is on lifting our performance and lifting our ability to tell our story by maximising the quality of the student experience, embracing innovation and creativity, building and developing capacity in the sector and most of all developing collaboration between the education institutes.

“Developing collaboration between the various tertiary, secondary and primary institutions has been key to my role in the past year. As well as, increasing awareness about homestays.”

The largest provider of international education in the region is Massey University, a key signatory of the strategy.

Massey University Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas says the prospect for growth in the international education sector is good.

“International education accounts for about 0.83% of Manawatū Whanganui’s Gross Domestic Product which is below the nation-wide proportion of 1.7%.”

Professor Thomas says every year, more than 4000 students from more than 100 countries, nearly 1500 of whom are based here in Manawatū, study with Massey.

“Our endeavours in attracting international students is expected to strengthen following the release of the latest QS rankings. We now have five subject areas ranked in the world’s top 100 – two more than before. They are in agriculture, forestry, art and design, development studies, nursing and veterinary science. In the QS’s world top 50, Massey’s veterinary science ranked 23rd and agriculture and forestry ranked at 27th and 30th respectively – all three leading subjects are provided from the Manawatū campus.”

Ms Bennett-Smith says alongside Massey’s efforts, UCoL has established relationships with Dongguan in China and is working on creating agreements with educational institutes in Chengdu and Nanjing.

As for the year ahead, Ms Bennett-Smith says student visa tracking is looking good for the start of the year with the February figures due out soon.

The full Economic Impact of International Education Report 2015/16 for Manawatū Whanganui can be found here.

The Regional International Education Strategy 2016-2020 can be found here.

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