Loan changes have yet to boost student rolls

By BRONWYN SELL

Cheaper student loans seem to be having little effect on university enrolments, with numbers stagnant a few weeks before classes start.

Most universities said yesterday that their pre-enrolment numbers were about the same as last year, levelling out a pattern of slow growth in the tertiary sector.

But at Otago University, pre-enrolment numbers took their biggest drop in a decade, down about 4 per cent on last year's record roll.

Another unexpected bump at the start of the academic year has seen about 22,000 students receive loan contracts from Work and Income New Zealand printed with the name of the wrong institution.

Winz has apologised for a computer error, which it says will not affect its processing the loans.

The president of the Aotearoa Polytechnic Students' Union, David Penney, said the most common mistake showed North Island students enrolled at Canterbury University.

Around the country, enrolments at polytechnics are a bit flat, according to the Association of Polytechnics.

Most programmes at the Manukau Institute of Technology had about the same interest as last year, said chief executive Dr Jack MacDonald.

But some courses, including business and technology, were very slow. However, it was too early to panic, he said.

"We really don't have any idea whether students are just biding their time or whether it's a true indication that interest in the tertiary sector is waning."

Dr MacDonald said interest in education tended to fall as the economy picked up, as it had in Manukau, and was stronger during high unemployment.

Other campuses are slightly ahead on enrolment numbers compared with this time last year - the Auckland University of Technology (formerly AIT) has had 14,000 registrations so far, up 2 per cent.

Victoria University's new papers in e-commerce, its new design school and bio-medical science degree have contributed to a slight increase in enrolments so far, from 11,768 this time last year to 11,839.

Auckland, Massey, Waikato and Canterbury Universities were expecting numbers to be similar to previous years.

Otago University vice-chancellor Dr Graeme Fogelberg said the roll decline, which could cost it millions, was partly due to a decline of seventh-formers in Otago and Southland and a more buoyant job market.

Massey University's manager of student services, Professor Tom Prebble, said enrolments had begun slowly, but picked up pace last week and it was hard to tell if numbers would surpass last year's.

Numbers at Massey's Albany campus were looking healthier than those in Palmerston North.

A spokesman for the Vice-Chancellors' Committee, Rod Bryant, said people might have delayed decisions until the new Government announced its tertiary policies, which included no-interest loans for current students.

The Ministry of Education says growth in public tertiary institutions slowed in the late 1990s after a spurt in the previous decade, citing demographic changes and a slowing of migration as possible factors.