China Overseas Chinese Network, April 11. According to a comprehensive compilation report by New Zealand's Tianwei.com, data from the New Zealand Immigration Service shows that less than 12,000 international students are currently staying in New Zealand, a decrease of 40,000 compared with before the epidemic.

  Two years ago, New Zealand had 52,000 international students.

  However, the University of Auckland's 2021 annual report showed a record number of students enrolled at the university last year, including 5391 foreign students, up 500 from 2020 and just 63 fewer than in 2019, before the pandemic.

  Immigration New Zealand says half of the 11,800 international students currently in New Zealand will have their study visas due to expire this year.

The government has allowed 5,000 new international students to enter from the middle of this year, but will not approve other study visas until October.

  Universities and schools across New Zealand want to fully open their borders as soon as possible, but the education minister says visa processing cannot cope with such a demand.

  In a normal year, as many as 86,000 New Zealanders are in New Zealand on a valid study visa at any one time, and at peak the number exceeds 100,000.

(Jackie Shan)