New Zealand ranks high in educational use of Internet


A major international survey of Internet behavior ranks New Zealand as a leader in its educational use of the Internet but low in its broadband penetration.

World Internet Project findings from thirteen countries and regions world-wide

released this week highlight remarkable similarities alongside significant differences in the way users utilise and rely on the Internet.

  • New Zealand has the highest proportion of people using the Internet for distance education at 21 percent
  • New Zealand has the second highest Internet use at school with an average of 5.2 hours per week, second behind Australia.
  • New Zealand ranked second lowest on broadband penetration with 65%, ahead of only Colombia and equal to urban China, and is second highest in its reliance on dialup access.

The New Zealand World Internet Project (WIP) survey was conducted a year ago by AUT University’s Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication (ICDC) and is compared with 12 other countries.  The World Internet Project findings cover Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Macao, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States. 

The World Internet Project, a longitudinal study which aims to track the trends of the Internet and its impact around the world by surveying both users and non-users, originated from the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future, a policy and research centre in the United States.  Such a survey enables cross-country comparisons of Internet use, which is invaluable for establishing how New Zealand is positioned globally with new media technology.

The WIP is funded through the National Library of New Zealand under the New Zealand Government’s Digital Strategy, and by InternetNZ.

For highlights of the 2008 World Internet Project report from a New Zealand context visit http://wipnz.aut.ac.nz.