More than 1000 international students were prevented from beginning their studies at the Government's mega-polytechnic Te Pūkenga due to visa processing delays.
Problems affecting the intake of students in the first semester have also left the troubled institution losing out on tens of millions it could have collected in fees.
Figures obtained by 1News reveal that while international student enrolments were up by 71% this year, with just over 2070 applications, slow visa processing meant 1400 learners were unable to start their courses in semester one.
Tertiary Education Minister Penny Simmonds said she was disappointed in the delays.
Simmonds has been working to unwind the previous government's move to establish Te Pūkenga, which involved amalgamating 16 institutions into just one.
"Te Pūkenga have estimated that that cost them about $30 million for the year and that's disappointing because they're under financial pressure," she said.
"What we're doing is trying to put the sector into a situation where it's sustainable going forward. Obviously, a $189 million annual deficit is not sustainable."
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said she told officials of expectations that semester two would go more smoothly for students and Te Pūkenga's balance sheet.
"I said to immigration officials, my expectation is that we will not see this again," she said.
"I've told immigration with the peak that comes now – the second semester – I expect that we are processing those visas in a timely way. And I know that they have moved resources into the processing team for students."
Cabinet close to decision on new model for polytechs
The financial blow comes at a critical time for Te Pūkenga, which was established in 2020 and intended to address the financial struggles of the institutions that preceded it.
However, the situation has worsened since the merger.
While the Government is taking steps to address the visa processing issue, it's also working on a broader solution for the troubled tertiary education sector.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told 1News that the Cabinet is in the final stages of signing off on public consultation for a new model that could replace Te Pūkenga.
MP Penny Simmonds says merging the country's polytechnics wasn't the answer. (Source: 1News)
However, Simmonds was unable to say whether the new model would be enough to stop the institutions from continuing to bleed out cash.
When asked about the financial outlook, she responded: "Look it's too early yet, they're doing that work at the moment and I expect to see that over the coming months."
Immigration official responds
MBIE’s director for student visas Celia Coombes said there was currently no backlog of applications for student visas.
"Over the last four weeks, 75% of Te Pūkenga applications have been processed within six weeks. We have around 5400 student visa applications currently under assessment from all providers."
Coombes said approximately 950 of the applications being assessed were from Te Pūkenga and the majority were submitted in June and July 2024.
She said officials were aware that the education sector was increasing recruitment for the 2024 study year by mid-2023.
"We encouraged students to plan accordingly and make sure they applied three months before they intended to come to New Zealand, however we saw most student visa applications submitted between December and January.
"Additionally, several education providers continued to issue 'offers of place' to students over this period, when the study was scheduled to commence shortly after the submission of their visa. Unfortunately, this meant some students missed their semester intakes and had to defer their study.
"Processing student visa applications is a key focus for us," she said. "The volume of student visa applications has been steady since the reopening of the border post-Covid."
Coombes also noted the largest volume of student visa applications were lodged between October to March and May to August.
In 2023, 61,454 international student visas were submitted, 49,121 were approved and 8072 were declined.
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