New Zealand Education Minister Erica Stanford announced recently that the country's international education export earnings reached nearly NZ$5 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2026. That marks three years of steady growth from the NZ$3.5 billion reported for 2024 and the NZ$4.3 billion for 2025.

Foreign enrolment in New Zealand has been on the upswing as well, moving from 69,140 students in 2023 to a projected 99,000 for this year. That leaves the foreign student base below the pre-COVID threshold of nearly 116,000 students reported for 2019, but, adds Minister Stanford:

“It is encouraging that we are generating more value of international education with fewer students. In 2019 around 116,000 students contributed NZ$4.4 billion to New Zealand. This year we are on track for around 99,000 students with them continuing nearly NZ$5 billion.”

A related analysis from sector research specialists Studymove [link to https://studymove.com] provides the following breakdown of foreign enrolment in New Zealand by study level.

"University enrolments increased 14% compared with the same period last year," says Minister Stanford, "while school enrolments increased 9%, including a 22% increase in primary school enrolments."

“Our job now is to keep that momentum going. That means backing our education providers to grow, making sure our immigration settings are internationally competitive, and promoting New Zealand in the markets where we see the greatest opportunities…By getting the settings right and backing our providers to compete, we can attract more students, support more Kiwi jobs and businesses, grow our exports and build a stronger economy for the future.”

In his commentary on current trends, Studymove's Keri Ramirez highlighted the strong growth in post-graduate enrolments in the years after the pandemic. "Back in 2019 and 2018 the percentage of students who were enrolled in these post-graduate programs was very small in comparison to what it represents now" he explains. "So now the latest figure is giving us 21,000 students doing postgrad [as of 2025] and 24,000 doing undergrad. when back in 2019 it was 27,000 in undergraduate and only 9,000 doing post-graduate studies."

In other words, international undergraduate enrolments hadn't quite reached pre-COVID levels as of 2025, whereas post-graduate numbers have more than doubled.

Going for growth

New Zealand's International Education Going for Growth Plan sets a target of 105,000 international student enrolments by 2027 and an ambition to grow export earnings to NZ$7.2 billion by 2034. Both goals appear to be well within reach, even as growth is moderating in 2026 relative to the last three years.

"Growth will continue," says Education New Zealand Chief Executive David Downs. "The percentage growth will slow down a bit but we certainly see the next seven or eight years as a period of very steady and consistent growth. The key thing is we are very much not looking to just flood the market in a short-term sense."

Mr Ramirez points out that the mix of leading source markets for New Zealand has shifted in the years after the pandemic. China and India remain the top two senders, but other growth markets, notably Sri Lanka and Nepal, have worked their way into the top ten.

Mr Downs confirms that: "We have over the last couple of years very much pivoted our strategy to be more focused on a smaller number of markets that we believe will deliver growth."

Education New Zealand's strategy targets a group of 16 markets all together, five of which are categorised as growth markets: China, India, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Philippines.

Mr Downs attributes the continuing growth of New Zealand's international student base to that market selection, but also to the country's competitive policy settings – including work rights, visa policy, and visa processing times – and the core offering of high-quality education in a peaceful, English-speaking, safe and welcoming destination.

"We know the student experience in the country and the social license, the sort of acceptance of students, are both very positive. So all those sort of really good settings are acting in our favour at the moment and so you feel like there's a bit of a flywheel effect from all of that," he adds.

“This is exactly the kind of growth our government is focused on as we build the future," concludes Minister Stanford. "We want more high-value exports, more investment, more skilled people and a stronger, more productive economy.”

For additional background, please see:

• "���Ϲ��� Podcast: 'Good, steady, and disciplined': New Zealand’s plan for sustainable international enrolment growth"
• "New Zealand reports solid foreign enrolment growth for 2025"
• "New Zealand expands post-study work opportunities for international students"
• "New Zealand announces strong foreign enrolment growth along with a new international education strategy"