International students in Australia

How many international students are studying in Australia?Group of students stand in circle holding passports

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

In 2017, 799,371 international students were enrolled in education programs in Australia. Of these, there were 350,472 international students enrolled in the higher education sector.

Which education sectors are international students 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, the English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) sector and the schools sector (see table below).

Data shows that ELICOS continues to provide a popular pathway for international students moving into the VET and higher education sectors. In 2015, 30 per cent of international students who commenced a higher education course had previously studied in the ELICOS sector, while 37 per cent of international students who commenced a VET course in 2015 did so through an ELICOS pathway.
Foundation courses are also increasing in popularity, with enrolment numbers rising by 16 per cent each year since 2012 to sit at 28,313 students in 2017.
SectorInternational student
enrolments 2017
Higher education350,472
VET217,696
ELICOS155,448
Schools25,762
Non-award49,993
Total in Australia799,371

Which states and territories are international students studying in?

New South Wales and Victoria attract the largest numbers of international students. The other states and territories have smaller numbers of international students and smaller numbers of students overall.

State/territoryInternational student
enrolments 2017
NSW304,545
VIC253,076
QLD123,737
WA53,897
SA35,821
ACT16,910
TAS8,889
NT2,495

Where are Australia's international students from?

The following table shows the international student enrolments for the top 10 nationalities in 2017, which made up approximately 70 per cent of Australia's enrolments in all sectors. The largest number of enrolments in the higher education sector were from China, India and Nepal; the largest in the VET sector were from India, China and the Republic of Korea; the largest in the ELICOS sector were from China, Brazil and Japan; and the largest in the schools sector were from China, Vietnam and the Republic of Korea.
NationalityInternational student
enrolments 2017
China231,191
India87,615
Brazil36,496
Nepal35,423
Malaysia32,899
Republic of Korea31,112
Thailand30,730
Vietnam30,536
Colombia21,628
Indonesia20,028
All nationalities799,371

The information in this article was sourced from the Australian Government's Department of Education and Training 2017 international student enrolment data.

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