New Zealand and world ICT education and job trends.

1. 1
ICT Trends – International Enrolments
Tertiary IT Enrolment & Completion Trends (Source: Education Counts Statistics Website)
The Department of Labour March 2012 migration report states that in July 2011-March 2012, 56,741
international students were approved to study in New Zealand, a 7 per cent decrease from 61,060 in
July 2010-March 2011.
A recent news item in the Waikato Times places the worth of New Zealand's international
education industry at $2.5 billion. The article focusses on the University of Waikato where
international enrolments fell from 1670 in 2010, to an anticipated 1470 in 2012, leading to a loss of
millions of dollars in revenue. The high New Zealand dollar, the rise of stronger Asian universities,
and changes to educational policies in countries such as Canada, Australia and the United States has
been blamed for the decline.
The figures for international tertiary enrolments for 2012 are unavailable on the MoE Education
Counts website so it is too soon to say what impact this decline in international student numbers has
made on ICT enrolments. However, the overall enrolment and completion trends from 2005 up to
2011 are available. Figure 1 indicates a decline in international diploma enrolments from peak
numbers in 2009, while figure 2 indicates a drop of almost 50 per cent from peak degree enrolments
in 2005.
Fig.1 Diploma Enrolments (EFTS) & Completions 2005 - 2011

2. 2
Fig.2 Degree Enrolments (EFTS) & Completions 2005 - 2011
ICT Job Vacancies Advertised Online
Seek ICT job adverts (Fig.3) have increased by 30 per cent for the year to May, although the figure of
2263 is just 5 per cent up on May 2010.
Fig.3 Seek ICT Job Adverts Monthly Trends 2010 –2013 (May)
Figure 4 illustrates the 2013 online job advert trends for Trademe IT, down by 28 per cent on May
2012, and for Seek ICT, down by 18.7 per cent on same time last year.
Fig.4 Seek ICT & Trademe IT Job Advert Trends for 2013

3. 3
Figure 5 illustrates an overall increase in Seek ICT job adverts for New Zealand of 8.5 per cent for the
month of May.
Fig.5 Seek ICT Job Advert Trends Monthly Change for May 2013
Figure 6 provides a detailed record of the Seek ICT job advert trends by region to May 2013.
Fig.6 Seek ICT Job Advert Monthly Trends to May 2013
News Bytes: A to Z
Bay of Plenty Times (7 May 2013): International students staying away; another article confirming
declining international student numbers lnkd.in/3fp7kc.
Computerworld (7 May 2013): According to the Clarius Skills Indicator report for March quarter 2013
a shortage of 100 IT manager jobs has emerged, while the second half of the year will see
improvements in ICT job hiring due to new projects coming online.

4. 4
Johannesburg (SA) (9 May 2013): Upskill to meet ICT demand; Specialists in data analytics and data
management are highly sought after lnkd.in/YE2ZF6.
Here in New Zealand there are currently 29 Information & Communication Technology jobs
containing data analytics on the Seek ICT website. Salaries are in the $60k to $100k range.
Western Australia (8 May 2013): Building Australia’s ICT capability; the current ICT skills shortage
must be addressed. ICT enrolments in training and education have fallen about 55% nationally
lnkd.in/iHnpWv.
ZDNet (3 May 2013): Peak Australian IT lobby group the Australian Information Industry Association
(AIIA) has set out its priorities for the upcoming September 2012 election, stating that parties of all
political persuasions should be focusing on addressing the skills shortage and use of IT in Australia.