The Education Minister is unconcerned by a plunge in the number of Chinese students enrolling in New Zealand schools. 

Enrolments are down by more than 1000 students this year amid record numbers of last minute cancellations. 

The drop is already hitting local schools in the pocket. 

However, Education Minister Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking the decline isn't unexpected. 

Hipkins said there's been a downturn of first time student visas from China over the last couple of years and that's starting to flow through, but he said the situation is being monitored closely.

"In the grand scheme of things, this is what you would regard as a usual fluctuation of the cycle. I mean we have seen downturns like this before and then they come back again." 

He said it highlights the vulnerability of New Zealand's education system to international education. 

"To one country being dominating among those, which is China, we want to get out education system so that it's finical viable without international students and we are doping quite a lot of work around that."