Ministry figures showed foreign PhD students accounted for about 48 percent of all PhD enrolments pre-Covid, dropping to a low of 43 percent in 2022 with 4310 enrolments before bouncing back to a high of 5265 or 49 percent of PhD enrolments last year. Baisden said reducing the number of foreign PhD students could incentivise people to create better conditions for New Zealand students. Lamusse said any increase to international PhD students’ fees would increase the cost of research because universities often covered students’ fees from grants for specific projects. Just over 60 percent of domestic PhD students (3305) and 55 percent of international PhD students (2870) were female. In 2017, a Ministry of Education report said 75 percent of foreign PhD students had returned overseas five years after completing their studies, the highest percentage of any group of international students.