Sociodemographic Characteristics of Aotearoa New Zealand Oral Health Students: Do Student Cohorts Reflect the Society They Will Serve?
Date
Authors
Loch, Carolina
Brunton, Paul
Moffat, Susan
Aarts, John
Carrington, Samuel
Lyons, Karl
Gray, Andrew
Curtis, Elana
Bristowe, Zoe
Kool, Bridget
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
This study evaluated sociodemographic characteristics of students enrolled in dentistry, oral health and dental technology in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) between 2016 and 2020. Sociodemographic data were obtained from central student record systems and NZ population data from the 2018 Census. Age, gender and citizenship status were analysed for the whole cohort, whilst other categories were analysed for NZ citizens and permanent residents only. Descriptive statistics were presented as raw counts or rates per 100,000 of the population. Most NZ students were educated in the public system. For dentistry and dental technology, a third of the cohort were international students, contrasting with only 4% of oral health students. Most NZ-educated students attended schools serving socioeconomically privileged communities. For all programmes, most students came from urban areas and there were more female than male students enrolled. Māori and Pacific students represented 9.3% and 5.4% of enrolments, despite representing 20% and 9% of the NZ population. Māori and Pacific peoples and those from rural and low socioeconomic areas were underrepresented, despite efforts to address such inequities. Admission policies in NZ universities need to ensure that Māori and Pacific peoples and those from rural and low socioeconomic areas are considered from a social justice and equity positioning.Description
Keywords
admissions, demographics, dentistry students, diversity, equity, 32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 3203 Dentistry, Dental/Oral and Craniofacial Disease, Prevention, Behavioral and Social Science, Health Disparities, Health Disparities and Racial or Ethnic Minority Health Research, Social Determinants of Health, Minority Health, Rural Health, Oral and gastrointestinal, 4 Quality Education, General Science & Technology
Source
J R Soc N Z, ISSN: 0303-6758 (Print); 1175-8899 (Online), Wiley, 56(1), e70003-. doi: 10.1002/snz2.70003
Publisher's version
Rights statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.