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

How many international students are studying in Australia?

In 2007, over 455,000 international students enrolled in courses in Australia. This figure represents a 19.0% increase on 2006 enrolments (compared to the 10.9% increase between 2005 and 2006 figures). Commencements (new student enrolments) grew by 25.9%.

Which sectors are they studying in?

The largest number of international students in Australia are studying in the higher education (university) sector, followed by the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, and the English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) sector.

The VET sector is still experiencing rapid growth, with enrolments increasing by 45.6%. It is not surprising that courses in this sector are so well regarded worldwide for their quality and for the valuable work skills they provide.

The ELICOS sector had strong enrolments and commencements growth in 2007 (30.7% and 34.7% respectively). China and India (the largest and third largest ELICOS markets) were responsible for almost two-thirds of the growth in commencements.

The higher education sector declined slightly, partly due to such strong growth experienced by the VET and ELICOS sectors.

Which states are they studying in?

New South Wales and Victoria attract by far the greatest numbers of international students. New South Wales alone accounts for just over 40% of all international students in Australia; Victoria has around 29%; Queensland 15%; Western Australia 7.8%; South Australia 5.0%; the Australian Capital Territory around 1.5%; Tasmania 1%; and the Northern Territory 0.1%.

Where are the international students from?

The table below shows the international student enrolments for the top five nationalities for 2007, which contributed 54% of Australia's enrolments in all sectors.

The most significant growth in enrolments in 2007 came from outside the top 10 markets, with Nepal increasing by 241.2%, North Africa and the Middle East by 42.7% and Vietnam by 44.1%.

What level of course are they studying?

Since 2002 there has been a trend toward postgraduate courses for international students. In 2007 44% of international students were enrolled in a postgraduate course, up from 37% in 2002. During the same period undergraduate enrolments grew by 35%. However, the annual rate of growth for undergraduate students has slowed from a high of 15% in 2003 to 1% in 2007. In 2007 almost four in five postgraduate enrolments were at the masters by coursework level.

What broad field of study are they taking?

In 2007, the fields of study with the highest growth in the number of commencements in the Higher Education sector were 'Business Administration and Management' and 'Nursing' (with 1693 and 683 more commencements respectively on the same period in 2006). The field of study with the largest proportion of commencements was 'Business Administration and Management' (43.6%) followed by 'Computer Science and Information Systems' and 'Engineering and Surveying' (10.2% and 7.4% respectively).

Most commencement in the VET sector were in the fields of 'Services, Hospitality and Transport' and 'Business Administration and Management' (40.9% and 29.9% respectively). Students from the top three source nationalities (India, China and the Republic of Korea) accounted for almost half 47.7% of all enrolments in these fields.

The Information in this article is sourced from the Australian Government’s Australian Education International 2006 and 2007 international student enrolments data.