Summary of results

Involvement in offshore delivery

9. Seventeen of 36 public tertiary education providers (or 47 percent) were involved in the delivery of offshore programmes in 2001.

10. Universities show the main provider involvement in offshore delivery. Seven of eight universities were involved as opposed to nine of 21 polytechnics/institutes of technology and one of four Colleges of Education. Wananga were not involved in offshore education delivery.

Mode of delivery

11. As discussed earlier, there are a variety of ways by which offshore education programmes can be delivered. The initial stocktake focussed on three modes of delivery:

a. distance education;

b. campus-based teaching offshore; or

c. a combination of campus-based teaching and distance education.

12. Distance education can be an important component of the provision of offshore education and is becoming a major international business, expanding together with the growth of so-called `e-commerce'.

13. Responses in relation to mode of delivery were received for 62 of the 63 offshore programmes. Twenty-six programmes were delivered through campus-based teaching offshore, 20 programmes were delivered entirely by distance education and 16 programmes were delivered through a combination of campus-based teaching offshore and distance education. Respondents stated that 12 of the 63 programmes delivered entirely by distance education could potentially be delivered `world-wide' due to their mode of delivery.
14. Of all programmes involving campus-based teaching offshore, only one respondent stated that capital costs were involved in establishing the programme. In all other cases, respondents stated that these sorts of costs were met by the partner institution. Most programmes involved a portion of New Zealand-based staff time (either from New Zealand or in the country of delivery), but actual hours and numbers of staff involved were provided only by a small number of respondents.

Offshore education by distance - the E-Learning Advisory Group

15. A cautious comparison can be drawn between the offshore education stocktake results and those from a questionnaire on e-learning capability undertaken by the Ministry on behalf of the E-Learning Advisory Group. The results of the questionnaire demonstrate that a number of e-learning developments are underway in tertiary education providers in New Zealand. These include on-line tutorials, dual-mode campus-based courses and courses that are entirely web-delivered. At present, however, these initiatives are primarily domestically focussed.

16. Providers were asked whether they had any collaborative arrangements for e-learning with any other provider internationally. Of the 33 out of 36 providers responding to the questionnaire, 11 providers (three universities, six polytechnics or institutes of technology and two colleges of education) had these kind of arrangements with another provider internationally.

17. The e-learning capability questionnaire focussed purely on distance education provision. This initial stocktake looked not only at distance education, but at offshore education as a whole.

Offshore programmes by region and by country

18. New Zealand's offshore delivery is primarily focussed in South-East Asia, China/Hong Kong and the Pacific. Thirty-one of 63 programmes were delivered in Asia (with the largest proportion delivered in Malaysia). Sixteen programmes were delivered in the Pacific Islands and Australia.

19. This pattern echoes New Zealand's existing or past international education relationships. Asia was both the main source of public tertiary foreign fee-paying (FFP) students studying onshore in New Zealand in 2001 and the site of most of New Zealand public tertiary providers' offshore programmes. China, Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore accounted for the majority of these programmes.

Offshore programmes by type of provider

Fig. 3 Offshore programmes by type of provider, 2001

20. New Zealand universities offered the most offshore programmes of public tertiary providers in 2001. Level of involvement varied greatly - just three institutions accounted for 35 of 63 programmes - two universities (24 programmes) and one polytechnic/institute of technology (11 programmes). Many providers offered just one programme offshore.

Offshore programmes by level of award

21. The level of programmes offered offshore in 2001 was relatively evenly spread between post-secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate study. One third of programmes offered offshore (21 out of 63) were towards post-secondary sub-degree qualifications. Just over one third of programmes (25 out of 61) were towards under-graduate qualifications. Slightly under a third of programmes (17 out of 61) were towards post-graduate qualifications.

Student numbers

22. Not all respondents to the initial stocktake provided details of the number of students enrolled in offshore programmes. Responses in relation to student numbers were received for 42 of the 63 offshore programmes.

23. The total number of students enrolled in these 42 offshore programmes in 2001 was 1,472. The average number of students enrolled in those offshore programmes was, therefore, 35 students per programme. However, one programme had 304 students enrolled in 2001 and several programmes had less than ten students.

24. If we assume that the average number of students enrolled in offshore programmes can be extrapolated across all offshore programmes, then we can estimate the total number of students enrolled in offshore programmes with New Zealand public tertiary providers in 2001 at approximately 2,200.

Offshore programmes by field of study

Fig 4. Offshore programmes by field of study, 2001

25. Offshore programme subject matter varied. Business Administration, Commerce and Management courses featured often, but vocational/professional programmes in the fields of Nursing or specialised Medicine, Teaching and the Trades were also delivered offshore.

Economic and strategic benefit

26. The initial stocktake did not provide direct data on revenue earned by offshore programmes and the number of students per programme described above cannot be easily converted into monetary values. However, international experience suggests that financial benefit to the provider tends to be lower per student for offshore than for home campus-based education. This is due to a range of factors including the need to set fees competitively in the local market, the additional investment required and/or profit-sharing with the local partner institution. In the case of some twinning programmes, there may be no net financial benefit to the New Zealand provider at all until the student enrols as an international student in New Zealand.

27. Nevertheless, international literature indicates that the generation of an additional and more diverse revenue stream is still the highest motivating factor for establishing an offshore programme. Other reasons include increasing profile and recognition, internationalising the curriculum, complementing international student programmes onshore, providing another recruitment channel bringing international students to onshore campuses, and building the capacity of an offshore partner. The indirect strategic or economic benefits of offshore programmes - such as internationalisation of the curriculum or creating greater recognition of the `New Zealand brand' - cannot be easily quantified but are nonetheless real.