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The main measure of participation in this report is enrolment in formal tertiary study¹, which covers all students studying towards a recognised qualification, irrespective of how their study is funded.

Participation in industry training is also referenced, not only because it is an important and distinct activity within the tertiary education system but also because it includes a large proportion of trainees receiving on-the-job training, who are not included in formal tertiary study.

Participation figures for specific programmes (such as Youth Training) are used where they are relevant to the topic.

Rapid growth in participation in the last four years …

There had been a substantial increase in the total number and proportion of people enrolled in formal tertiary education. From 1999 to 2002, the total number of students enrolled in formal tertiary study had increased by 29 percent. Over the same period, participation rates (ie students as a proportion of the population) had also increased by 25 percent. The growth had largely been the result of increased enrolments in public tertiary providers, particularly wānanga.

Figure 16: Participation in formal tertiary education, 1994–2002

… but varied growth across ethnic groups

There were substantial differences in participation rates between ethnic groups. Māori had the highest participation rate, which is continuing to grow. This was largely due to the success of the wānanga in attracting first- time students. Pasifika participation rates were lower than for other ethnic groups (when allowance is made for differences in the age structure of each ethnic group population). Participation rates for domestic Asian students fell between 2001 and 2002.

Figure 17: Age-standardised participation rates by ethnic group, July 2001 and 2002

Growing participation of older students

Participation rates had been growing across age groups from 1999 to 2002, although there was a slight decrease in participation rates for students under 25 between 2001 and 2002.

Women, at all ages, were more likely to participate in tertiary education than men.

Figure 18: Participation rates by age and gender, July 2002

There was a trend towards greater participation in tertiary education at older ages. The proportion of students over 40 years had increased from 17 percent in 1999 to 20 percent in 2002. Less than half of the formal tertiary students were aged under 25 years. In 2002, only 26 percent of first-time students came directly from school.

Increased participation below degree level

While the number of students enrolled at the degree and postgraduate levels had been steadily increasing, the major growth to 2002 had been at the sub-degree level. Nearly 55 percent of tertiary students were enrolled for qualifications below degree level in 2002.

Figure 19: Enrolments in formal tertiary education by qualification level, July 1997–2002

Continued growth in industry training

There has been constant growth in industry trainee numbers since the programme began in 1992. At 31 December 2002, there were 83,466 trainees registered with ITOs. This included 4,344 Modern Apprenticeships. It represented an overall increase of 26 percent from the previous year.

Figure 20: Participation in industry training, June 1995–2002

Source: Tertiary Education Commission, Industry Training 2002

Notes: Figures for December 2000 onwards are based on electronic returns and are not exactly comparable with previous years, which were returned through a manual reporting system. Totals include Modern Apprenticeship numbers.

In contrast to formal tertiary education, women are under-represented in industry training. In 2003, women made up only 23 percent of industry trainees. This was an improvement on 1996, when only 13 percent of industry trainees were women, but is still below their representation in the workforce (46 percent). The gender disparity is wider still for Modern Apprenticeships where only seven percent of participants in 2003 were women.

New Zealand tertiary education participation matches OECD average

The OECD provides international comparative data on three measures of participation in tertiary education: enrolment rates, expected years in tertiary and net entry rates².

The best measure for comparing participation in New Zealand with that in other countries is enrolment rates as this measure is relatively undistorted by differing age profiles. This measure takes total enrolments as a proportion of the population in four different age bands. New Zealand tertiary enrolment rates were close to the OECD average at the core ages, but higher at the older ages, although not as high as Australia and the United Kingdom.

Figure 21: OECD enrolment rates, 2001

Source: OECD, Education at a Glance, Indicators for 2003

The other two measures show New Zealand to be in a more favourable position compared with the same countries. However, these measures are distorted by New Zealand’s higher levels of participation in older age groups. Discussion of these measures can be found in Ministry of Education, Participation in Tertiary Education 2003, chapter 4.

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• Table of Contents

• The Baseline Picture

• Cross Strategy Indicators

• Raise foundation skills

• Skills for our knowledge society

• Strengthen research and knowledge creation

• Te rautaki mātauranga Māori

• Pacific people’s development and success

• Capability and quality

• Technical and Data Definitions