2005 INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLMENTS
Growth in Australia’s international student enrolments continues. The latest AEI full year data for 2005 shows continuing steady growth in Australia’s international education market overall. During 2005 there were a total of 344,815 enrolments by full-fee overseas students in Australia. This represents an increase of 7.0% from 2004 and shows slightly stronger growth than the 5.9% recorded between 2003 and 2004.
Sectors
The strongest enrolment growth in 2005 was in the vocational education and higher education sectors (13.9% and 8.3% respectively). The ELICOS sector grew by 6.3%, however, the schools sector performed poorly against the other sectors with negative growth at -8.2%.
Countries
Strong growth in the market continues from India (33.5%), China (17.8%), and South Korea (10.9%). In particular, the growth from India and China continues the strong growth shown in the previous two years. The growth in those markets was slightly offset by falls in enrolments from other markets such as Indonesia (-11.1%), Singapore (-8.7%), and Hong Kong (-7.6%). Some of these countries in Australia’s traditional markets have shown successive years of negative growth.
Countries which recorded strong enrolment growth in 2005 but were outside the top 10 countries include Brazil (49.8%), Vietnam (15.3%) and Germany (12.5%).
From a regional perspective, some regions grew significantly. North Africa and the Middle East recorded growth of 23.7% and The Americas, 12.5%. However, enrolments from Oceania and Antarctica, and Southern and Eastern Europe fell by 8.0% and 3.0% respectively.
States and Territories
New South Wales and Victoria continue to attract most overseas enrolments with two in three (66.5%) enrolments recorded in those states. The two states have also shown good growth in enrolments with 8.1% for New South Wales and 6.3% for Victoria. Other states are also showing signs of good growth. South Australia and Tasmania recorded enrolment growth of 16.9% and 11.1% respectively, and Queensland, 5.1%. All other states recorded some positive growth on 2004 enrolments.
For more detailed state-specific information, refer to the State Summary Sheets section below.
Level of Study
The three levels of study which attracted the highest student enrolments in 2005 accounted for more than two-thirds of all student enrolments. They were Bachelor Degree (27.8% of all enrolments), Non-award (24.7%) and Masters Coursework (15.8%). Good growth was also experienced with student enrolments rising by 5.2%, 5.8% and 14.1% respectively for each level of study.
Although relatively smaller segments of the market, very strong growth in enrolments were recorded for Masters Preliminary (47.7%) and Advanced Diploma (40.1%) levels of study.
Broad Field of Study
One in four (26.9%) enrolments is in the field of Business Administration, Management and the field with the next highest level of enrolments is ELICOS with 18.8%. Both fields experienced good enrolment growth over 2004, with 12.0% and 6.3% respectively.
Other fields that experienced strong growth in 2005 are Services, Hospitality, Transport (42.6%) and Nursing (42.3%).
Full details of these trends are available in the more detailed tables individually below or the complete set (pdf 96kb).
Table A: Student Enrolments in Australia from Top 10 Source Countries, 2002 to 2005 (pdf 22kb)
Table B: Time Series of Overseas Student Enrolments in Australia by Country, 2002 to 2005 (pdf 33kb)
Table C: Time Series of Overseas Student Enrolments in Australia by State/Territory, 2002 to 2005 (pdf 22kb)
Table D: Overseas Student Enrolments in Australia by Country and State/Territory, 2004 to 2005 (pdf 32kb)
Table E: Time Series of Overseas Student Enrolments in Australia by Major Sector, 2002 to 2005 (pdf 22kb)
Table F: Overseas Student Enrolments in Australia by Country and Major Sector, 2004 to 2005 (pdf 37kb)
Table G: Overseas Student Enrolments in Australia by State/Territory and Major Sector, 2002 to 2005 (pdf 19kb)
The pivot table used to produce Tables A to G is included below. It contains the variables Sector, Nationality and Year, and refers to year-to-date December data.
Pivot Table Annual Data 2005 (zip 389kb)
STATE SUMMARY SHEETS
FINAL ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLMENTS STATISTICS FOR PREVIOUS YEARS
Year 2001 Final International Student Enrolments
Year 2000 Final International Student Enrolments
TIME SERIES DATA OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLMENTS IN AUSTRALIA - 2002 TO 2005 STATISTICS
Introduction
International student enrolment annual statistics for 2002 to 2005 are summarised below. They continue AEI's Overseas Student Statistics series - with some important changes that cause a break in the series. The following chart shows sector level data for 1994 to 2005.
International Student Enrolments in Australia 1994 - 2005
Please select the image below to view the table and its data (pdf 24kb)
Note: there have been significant changes in methodology between 2001 and 2002.
Explanatory notes for AEI Enrolment Data
From 2002:
- Onshore student data is derived only from the Commonwealth Provider Registration and International Student Management System (PRISMS) rather than being compiled from multiple sources;
- Rather than distributing non-award student enrolments across the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) sectors, they are now recorded in a separate category;
- The data drawn from PRISMS is significantly more accurate and complete than the previous method of obtaining data from Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA);
- Data is available monthly as well as yearly and now includes commencements and cessations with progressive year to date (YTD) totals; and
- For the first time, all sector, course, and nationality data is compiled from the same source using the same methodology making country level analysis more reliable.
These statistics are drawn from AEI’s new student enrolment database for the years 2002 to 2005. These statistics are derived from PRISMS. Previously data was compiled from mixed sources such as visa data from DIMIA and data from the Higher Education Statistical Collection.
The data shows enrolments for all students holding a student visa - it does not cover students on other visas, which in the case of ELICOS, involves a large number of students on tourist visas and, to a lesser extent, working holiday maker visas. As a general 'rule of thumb', for each ELICOS student on a student visa there is another on a non-student visa.
The data does not cover offshore activity where Australian providers supply education services to foreign students overseas or by distance education where the student remains offshore. Data on offshore activity by Australian higher education institutions is available from the Higher Education Statistical Collection.