Source: Radio New Zealand
123RF
The number of New Zealand students studying on Massey Univeristy’s campuses is rising after halving over the past 10 years, it says.
Meanwhile, a union leader says the university’s Albany, Palmerston North and Wellington sites feel like ghost towns.
Official figures showed Massey had 12,345 equivalent full-time domestic students in 2025 including 4770 on-campus and 7575 studying remotely.
The number studying remotely was one of the highest on record and nearly 2000 more than in 2016, but the on-campus figure was the lowest point in a steady decline from a high of 9705 in 2016.
The university also had 4040 full-time equivalent international students giving it a total of 16,385 EFTS last year – slightly more than in the previous two years but about 2500 fewer than in the years prior to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The university’s annual report showed its Albany and Palmerston North campuses had nearly 2900 full-time equivalent students each last year and Wellington had 1997.
The university recorded a financial surplus for the year and the report said it had reduced its floor space by 23 percent since 2023.
Tertiary Education Union Massey branch co-chair, Te Awatea Ward, said staff were very aware of the decline in on-campus enrolments.
“They’ve noticed. Particularly last year and the year before there was a great concern at how empty our campuses were, particularly the Albany campus,” she said.
“This year staff have got very excited from the orientation day and seeing more students on campus… that lasts for about two or three days, and then it goes back to a ghost town.”
She said there were a lot of theories about what was to blame.
Ward said Massey had emphasised its online courses and staff noticed the contrast with Canterbury University, where domestic enrolments were well up.
“If you want students on campus, you have to provide courses on campus. If you’re wanting to have the maximum number of students qualify or complete with the least amount of financial input you have online courses,” she said.
“There’s definitely a competition for students between the eight universities.”
Ministry of Education figures showed nationally the number of on-campus students grew four percent last year to 104,420, slightly more than in 2016.
There were 13,905 full-time equivalent domestic students studying remotely, fewer than in recent years but 60 percent more than in 2016.
In a statement, Massey University said its drop in on-campus domestic students “reflects a combination of sector-wide shifts and changes in student behaviour – particularly over the pandemic when campus-based students shifted online (which has consistently grown), as well as a move back to campus learning at a time when our portfolio was changing”.
It said the university was “moving into a growth phase” by refreshing existing programmes and introducing new ones.
“We are already seeing positive indicators in our pipeline with new domestic on-campus learners up by 4.3 percent year on year, particularly in the Manawatū,” it said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand