Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Fewer international students expected due to quake

Updated at 10:03 pm on 24 March 2011

Education New Zealand says overseas agents expect to recruit fewer international students for this country's education institutions because of the Christchurch earthquake.

The organisation surveyed 156 agents, with more than half saying students enrolled in Christchurch institutions had asked to switch to an institution elsewhere in New Zealand.

Nearly a quarter said some had cancelled their plans to come to New Zealand altogether.

Education New Zealand says the quake's effect on international enrolments is strongest in countries such as Japan and China, whose citizens died after a building housing a language school collapsed on 22 February.

However, the organisation expects that enrolments are likely to return to near-normal levels within a year.

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