Student enrolments at the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka are tracking positively at 2.7 per cent above the same time last year.
Enrolments are currently 18,018 equivalent full-time students (EFTS), compared to 17,549 EFTS at the equivalent point in 2024.
This is an increase of 469 EFTS, making 2025 the first year since 2021 in which Otago has seen overall enrolment growth.
It is also the first year since 2019 in which the University has secured growth in both international and domestic enrolments and puts the University ahead of the 2025 budget forecast for 2.0 per cent growth.
Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson is pleased enrolments are tracking so strongly.
“In what are financially challenging times for many, the University has worked hard for this result, and it is heartening to see.
“This is positive news, not only for 2025, but also beyond that, as the pipeline impact of a return to first-year growth will benefit us into the future.”
In terms of first-year enrolments, domestic enrolments are up 6.6 per cent, and within that group school leavers are up 7.7 per cent. First-year international students are up 26.6 per cent.
Mr Roberston says domestic first-year growth is coming from across the country and includes sizeable increases from Auckland and several other North Island regions as well as from various parts of the South Island, including Canterbury.
Internationally, Otago is experiencing significant growth out of Kuwait, Canada, Vietnam, and China, and solid growth also from South Africa, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan. The United States, though, remains the largest source of new international enrolments thanks to the Study Abroad programme.
The final enrolment situation for Semester One will fully settle at end of this week when the deadline for course deletions passes, but no major change is likely between now and then.
The University typically receives a further enrolment boost of about 1,000 EFTS at the start of Semester 2. The final rate of enrolment growth for the year will be determined then.