UC resurgence to exceed pre-quake levels

UC resurgence to exceed pre-quake levels

The University of Canterbury is experiencing a resurgence in popularity as school leavers from around New Zealand head to the Christchurch campus.

With 2018 enrolments for all UC students up 7% across the board on 2017 numbers to date, the University is showing growth in attracting school leavers from the Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury regions that surpasses pre-quake levels. Overall, first-year new-to-UC domestic students are up 10% on 2017, increasing by 210 students in a year.

UC Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr notes the increase in enrolments includes more local school leavers choosing to remain in the city to study, as well as more students moving to Christchurch to come to UC than eight years ago.

“UC is now almost twice as popular with Auckland school leavers as it was in 2010,” he says.

“In Wellington and Auckland they’re getting the message that we already know well in Canterbury – UC is the place to be.”

The 2010 headcount of 107 Auckland school leavers has nearly doubled to 197 this year, while the 2010 headcount of 146 school leavers from the Wellington region is now sitting at 226 for 2018 enrolments to date.

Dr Carr says he is especially glad to see numbers of local students surpass pre-quake levels. The intervening years had seen a decline as young people chose to leave Christchurch after the 2010-2011 earthquakes.

“Canterbury school leavers accounted for 1243 UC first year students in 2010 and UC has now surpassed that pre-quake benchmark figure in 2018 to reach 1313. The Nelson-Marlborough region has also seen growth from 59 school leavers enrolling last year to 102 this year.”

UC enrolments were affected adversely by the disruption post-quake and the Canterbury rebuild, with many school leavers choosing to study outside the Canterbury region in following years. In 2010 UC students numbered 18,783 but by 2015 enrolment numbers had dropped 21% to 14,830 students.

Student numbers have been progressively building since 2015, with 16,253 UC students enrolled in 2017, and UC anticipating further growth during 2018.

“The University has also made significant efforts to attract and retain students with a diverse range of study options and over 100 qualifications, including several new ones,” Dr Carr says.

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