Foreign student numbers rising

More international students are choosing Hawke's Bay as their study destination.

International student enrolments were up 4 per cent, or 47 students, in Hawke's Bay last year, according to the New Zealand International Education Snapshot.

Institutes of technology and polytechnics lead the increase.

Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) international director Philippa Jones said the school had experienced an increase in international students over the past three years.

It had a strategy to grow the international student population and was working to diversify the countries they were coming from and the programmes they were coming to study.

Ms Jones said the students came from more than 40 countries but EIT's largest markets were China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Germany, India and Japan.

International students were studying a wide range of programmes including business, information technology, wine and viticulture, health science, nursing and English. They were studying at all levels.

Jones said the international students gave the domestic students to meeting students from other cultures, which was important.

"I think it opens their eyes to the way people of different nationalities approach the same problem." Having international students also allowed EIT to developing links with partner institutions overseas which would provide opportunities for domestic students to study abroad.

EIT provided international student support services including help to settle, find accommodation, and transition into a different learning culture, said Ms Jones.

- NZME