Immigration advisers say residency rules are driving an unprecedented surge in the number of foreign students paying $30,000-50,000 a year to study masters degrees.
Education Ministry figures showed 14,840 full-time equivalent international students were enrolled in masters programmes last year, enough to outnumber domestic masters students (10,830) for the first time.
Last year's figure was 48 percent higher than 2024, two-and-a-half times the previous high of 5705 full-time equivalents in 2020 and well above 2022's Covid-driven low of 2820.
Nearly all the enrolments came from Asia, especially China (4465) and India (4235), and most (9535) were in universities, with a further 2125 in polytechnics and 3175 in private institutions.
The total was also close to the 16,100 full-time equivalent international students enrolled in bachelors degrees.
Immigration advisers contacted by RNZ said work and residence rules were behind the increase.
Immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont said the rules would become even more favourable for masters graduates in August.
"The view out there now is that, by doing a master's degree in New Zealand, you can get all of the points that you need to apply for residency," he said. "The only thing that's then going to be required is a skilled job after graduating to enable the students to then apply for residency and that's what's really driving the demand in these master's degree courses."
McClymont said the looming August rule changes had shifted students' interest away from qualifications in skill-shortage areas and towards any masters degree at all.
"There was a particular interest in things like early childhood teaching and healthcare workers, and those sorts of qualifications, because there were pathways to residency," he said. "Now that they're going to have the potential of getting maximum points simply by having any masters degree, then really people are just looking for the cheapest and easiest masters degrees that they can do, so that they can get the postgrad work visa, then look for a skilled job."
University of Waikato had 555 international EFTS in masters' programmes in 2019 and 1700 last year. Vice-chancellor Neil Quigley said the "very substantial increase" was the result of a deliberate strategy.
"Pre the pandemic, so up to 2019, most of our international students were in undergraduate programmes, but even by then, we'd seen international demand shifting more towards the masters degrees, so we used the pandemic to bring on a new range of masters programmes that were aimed at the international market," he said.
Professor Quigley said most courses were focused on pathways to employment, such as digital business and cyber-security.
He said the growth in masters enrolments at Waikato appeared to have levelled off this year, but international undergraduate enrolments were rising, particularly from China.
Quigley said work and residence rights affected international demand for masters courses, but domestic students were also increasingly interested in postgraduate courses.
Recent international masters graduates Alka Chaurasia told RNZ residence and work rights did not drive her decision to study there last year.
"When I started doing the research, I realised that New Zealand has got a very strong reputation for education," she said. "It offers a multi-cultural environment so, for me, it looked like a good balance of quality education, natural beauty and quality of life."
Education New Zealand acting chief executive Linda Sissons said three factors contributed to the growth in masters enrolments - a general shift globally toward postgraduate study, the relatively short-duration of masters courses, and the stability of New Zealand's post-study work rights and residency rules compared with other countries.
"We're finding, with global research, that prospective students are increasingly prioritising the return on investment for international education, the labour market relevance and flexibility, and a Masters degree is at a high enough level and it's a brief enough that it can be seen as as leading to employment."
Dr Sissons said more postgraduate students were good for tertiary institutions and good for the economy, although she sounded a note of caution.
"Masters programmes are relatively short, so enrolments turn over more quickly and can be sensitive to market changes," she said.
"There's a there's an upside and a downside, but I think, in terms of New Zealand being seen as a focus for people who want higher level qualifications and ones that have a good quality reputation, it's a very positive trend."
Sissons said PhD enrolments also increased to an all-time high of 4120 full-time students, compared to 3630 domestic PhD students last year.
Figures provided by the office of Immigration Minister Erica Stanford indicated strong demand for Masters' degrees was continuing.
Up until May 13 there were 8191 applications from prospective Masters students with 6881 approved, compared with 17,451 and 13,109 for the entire 12 months of 2025.
A spokesperson for the minister said in a statement Immigration New Zealand advised the growth was mostly due the previous government's "Immigration Rebalance" changes made in 2021/2022.
Those changes made graduates from New Zealand Masters degrees eligible for a three-year work visa.
"Whilst studying, their partners are eligible for an open work visa as the partner of a student. Any dependants of the work visa holder are deemed domestic for schooling purposes. These settings are very attractive to international students," the statement said.
It said a modest increase had been expected following announcement of further changes last September and that was the intent as part of the International Education Growth Plan.
"However, it is important to note that in order to gain six points to qualify for residence under the new settings a person must have an eligible undergraduate degree as well as the New Zealand Masters (i.e., where a person enters a Masters course based on "previous experience" rather than having an undergraduate degree they will not qualify for six points). They must also have a genuine job offer at least the median wage."
"NZQA will be actively monitoring the sector to ensure that Master's courses remain high quality and fit for purpose and there is no proliferation of low-quality courses as has been seen previously," they said.
-RNZ