What are they doing? The field of study of domestic students/learners 2008-2016

Key Results

This report analyses the field of study of domestic students/learners in the New Zealand tertiary education system between 2011 and 2016 for below bachelors degree level and between 2008 and 2016 for bachelors level or higher.

The analysis shows that:

• in Level 1 and 2 certificates, there was an increase in the proportion of students/learners in the Mixed programme field. Changes in the focus of this level of qualification (to give greater emphasis to foundation-level skills) is likely to have driven a change in content
• in Level 3 to 7 certificates/diplomas, the fields of Architecture and building and Society and culture showed increases in share of students/learners
• at the bachelors or higher level, there was an increase in the proportion of students/learners in the broad field of Health
• at the bachelors or higher level, after a number of years of decline, the share of students/learners in Management and commerce and Society and culture have stabilised
• at the bachelors or higher level, universities had the highest number of students/learners in every broad field of study
• women were more likely to be studying in fields such as Health and Education, while there was a higher proportion of men in areas such as Engineering and related technologies
• Māori and Pasifika were relatively more likely to be enrolled in Society and culture
• the largest proportion of younger students/learners were in fields such as Natural and physical sciences and Tourism.