Top-performing New Zealand school students are far more likely than their less academically inclined peers to go?to another country for tertiary education, and the gap is widening, research suggests.

A New Zealand Ministry of Education has found that overseas departures among high-performing school-leavers ¨C along with private school students and people with global qualifications like the International Baccalaureate ¨C are at their highest levels in 15 years.

The trend is most pronounced among private school students placed in the top 10 per cent of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement, New Zealand¡¯s main secondary school qualification.

Almost 16 per cent of such people were overseas in 2024 after completing their schooling the previous year, compared with 5 per cent of top-scoring public school students, the report says.

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Author David Scott is ambivalent about whether the trend should concern policymakers. ¡°It would be problematic if increased overseas study signals declining confidence in New Zealand¡¯s universities or leads to a permanent loss of top-performing students,¡± his report says.

¡°Conversely, overseas study could benefit New Zealand by providing students with valuable skills, experiences and networks at no cost to the New Zealand taxpayer. Even if students remain overseas, a well-connected diaspora offers economic opportunities.¡±

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While the data does not definitively prove it, many of the departed kiwis are thought to be studying in Australia. If so, it would contradict former New Zealand prime minister Robert Muldoon¡¯s legendary put-down of his neighbour.

¡°New Zealanders who leave for Australia raise the IQ of both countries,¡± Muldoon quipped, in a contribution to cross-Tasman banter highlighted in memes like ¡°will the last person leaving NZ please turn off the lights?¡±

Anecdotes have swirled about kiwis, particularly wealthy Aucklanders, departing for Australia in droves since the lifting of New Zealand¡¯s extended Covid-19 border closures.

The number of New Zealanders commencing study in Australian higher education institutions passed 6,000 for the first time in 2023, having risen by about one-third in a decade and tripled in two decades, according to the latest Australian Education Department data.

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However, the Australian figures do not indicate whether the students in question are straight out of school, while the New Zealand data does not capture whether the kiwi ¨¦migr¨¦s are studying. A ¡°reporting issue¡± also affects the reliability of Australia¡¯s contribution to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development¡¯s international education statistics, according to the New Zealand ministry¡¯s report.

Tim Fowler, chief executive of New Zealand¡¯s Tertiary Education Commission, has said he wants improved data collection on kiwis studying in Australian universities. He said top Australian institutions from Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney had long been ¡°leaning into Auckland as a recruiting market because it¡¯s as easy to get to as Brisbane. They are sending people over here and trying to recruit the best and brightest out of our high schools.¡±

Fowler said many of his countryfolk were also studying in the US ¡°on academic or athletic scholarships or both. It¡¯s not unusual for New Zealanders to up sticks and go to a university overseas. That¡¯s just the nature of the New Zealand psyche. We¡¯re a country of travellers stuck at the bottom corner of the world.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com