International students in Australia

International students in Australia

• How many international students are studying in Australia?
• Which sectors are they studying in?
  
• Which states are they studying in?
  
• Where are the international students from?
  

How many international students are studying in Australia?

Australia is a popular study destination with students from around the world wishing to gain a top-quality education. Each year new students take up courses in Australia and add to the already significant international student body around the country.

In 2011, 557,425 international students were studying in Australia on a student visa. Of these, there were 242,351 international students enrolled in the higher education sector.

Which sectors are they studying in?

Most of the international students in Australia are studying in the higher education sector, followed by the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector and the English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) sector (see table below). 

Data also shows that ELICOS courses continue to be a popular pathway for international students moving into the VET and higher education sectors. In 2011, 39 per cent of students undertook study in ELICOS prior to commencing VET studies and 30 per cent of students undertook study in ELICOS prior to commencing a higher education program.

Which states are they studying in?

New South Wales and Victoria attract the biggest numbers of international students. New South Wales registered 208,847 students hailing from overseas countries in 2011, while Victoria registered 162,417 international students. The other states and territories have smaller numbers of international students and smaller numbers of students overall.

Where are the international students from?

The table below shows the international student enrolments for the top five nationalities in 2011, which made up 55.4 per cent of Australia’s enrolments in all sectors. China was the largest contributor to the higher education sector (40.2 per cent), the schools sector (44.3 per cent) and the ELICOS sector (29.1 per cent), while India was the largest contributor to the VET sector (32.4 per cent). There were slight differences in the top international student countries in 2011, with Malaysia overtaking Thailand and Indonesia overtaking Nepal in terms of international enrolments.

The information in this article was sourced from the Australian Government’s Australian Education International 2011 international student enrolments data.

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