Coronavirus has fuelled a net gain of students at one of the world’s southernmost universities, where declining international enrolments have been overshadowed by an upsurge in domestic demand.

Enrolments at the University of Otago have grown by almost 1,000 in full-time equivalent terms, with the addition of more than 1,300 additional domestic students eclipsing the loss of roughly 400 of their overseas counterparts, according to provisional figures released on 9 March.

“While the international drop is tracking as forecast, the upswing in domestic enrolments is far stronger,” said vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne, who indicated that while the overall growth had been anticipated, its scale had come as a surprise.

“An upswing in university enrolments is quite normal at any time when the labour market and economy are under pressure, but the magnitude of the domestic increase this time is greater than we have seen in other recent periods of economic downturn.”

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A similar pattern has been observed at the University of Tasmania, which gained about 3,000 domestic enrolments while losing just 240 from overseas, according to mid-February figures.

Professor Hayne said that Otago was on track for “solid” enrolment growth not only on its 2020 figures, but also its pre-Covid enrolments from 2019.

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Two years of declining international enrolments have reduced full fee-paying overseas students to just 5 per cent of Otago’s roll, down from around 14 per cent before Covid. But the university said that the big increase in domestic entrants would soften the financial blow.

Otago said that the financial implications would be estimated later in March when key deadlines for switching or withdrawing from courses had passed. “That said, the current situation should partly reduce the pressure faced by the university, which has previously budgeted for a NZ$13 million [£6.9 million] deficit for 2021.”

It said that 40 per cent of the domestic increase had come from outside the Otago region, which is centred around Dunedin near the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island. While many new entrants were school leavers from other parts of the country, the university also reported a “sizeable gain” in mature-aged commencements from first-time students and graduates returning to study.

Commencements were up by 14 per cent among Māori students and 21 per cent from New Zealand’s Pacific neighbours.

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com