University’s New International Scholarships Operate as Automatic Tuition Reductions

Phoebe Robertson

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington introduced two new international scholarships in 2025, offering $15,000 for undergraduate students and $10,000 for postgraduate students. The University confirmed the scholarships were launched in September 2025 for students enrolling from Trimester 3, 2025, positioning them as an upfront financial incentive at the point of acceptance rather than a later academic award.

Nine students received the undergraduate award and 47 received the postgraduate award in the scheme’s first year. 

According to the University’s scholarship pages, the VUW Undergraduate International Scholarship is valued at $15,000 for one year and is available to new international students entering their first year of a Bachelor’s degree. 

The VUW Postgraduate International Scholarship is valued at $10,000 for one year and applies to new international students entering a Master’s degree or Postgraduate Diploma. 

Both scholarships are described by the University’s website as “partial fee-based” awards that are credited directly towards tuition fees. Because the scholarships are automatically assessed and applied as a tuition credit rather than awarded through a competitive application process, they function structurally as a fixed reduction in first-year international tuition fees for eligible new students. 

Students do not submit a separate scholarship application. Instead, they are automatically assessed when applying for their programme, and recipients are notified of the award in their Offer of Place.  

The awards are available only to new international students paying full international fees who hold a conditional or unconditional Offer of Place. Returning students, study abroad and exchange students, students with credit transfer, government-sponsored students, and those with domestic status are ineligible. 

Students can see the tuition reduction in their Offer of Place and in their Pūaha fees information, but not in academic transcript records. The University did not provide a percentage of recipients, stating it does not collect data on ineligible applicants.

Recipients who withdraw after the scholarship has been formally awarded may be required to repay some or all of the value at the University’s discretion. 

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students) Dr Logan Bannister said the scholarships “help the University attract high calibre students at a time when affordability and value are key considerations for learners and their families.” 

The University also stated that even with the scholarship applied, recipients still contribute more in tuition fees than the cost of the award, and that the scholarships are projected to deliver a positive financial return. The awards are expected to contribute to the long-term stability of international revenue by encouraging increased enrolments.

Bannister added that “the majority of applicants who meet the criteria receive an award.” And that the university “intentionally structured this programme to be accessible rather than competitive”

Enrolment figures provided by the University show that in 2025 there were 2,666 students categorised as “Other Funding (including International students)” out of a total of 21,143 students. Based on the University’s figures, 56 of these International students received one of the two international scholarships that year.   

Te Herenga Waka said it was not yet in a position to provide the 2026 numbers until early March. By contrast, the University of Auckland—the only New Zealand university that provided comparable 2026 enrolment data by deadline—supplied current figures.

As of 12 February 2026, the University of Auckland had 9,527 overseas resident students enrolled (headcount), up from 8,129 at the same time in 2025. Auckland’s 2025 overseas headcount alone was more than three times Te Herenga Waka’s entire 2025 “Other Funding (including International students)” cohort of 2,666.

Furthermore, Auckland’s year-on-year increase in overseas residents—1,398 additional students—amounts to more than half of Te Herenga Waka’s total 2025 international cohort.

Against this backdrop, Te Herenga Waka’s newly introduced international scholarships—automatically assessed, tuition-credited, and projected to deliver a positive financial return—sit within a broader effort to attract and secure international enrolments. 

Structured to reach most eligible applicants and applied at the point of enrolment, they function less as selective awards and more as a standardised pricing adjustment in a competitive sector where scale still appears to favour larger institutions.