NOTE: All analysis is undertaken on current year to date figures (from 1 January to the end of the current month’s data) compared to the same period in the previous year.
International Student Enrolments Up 10.9% in 2006
The International Student Enrolment data for 2006 show there were 383,818 enrolments by full-fee paying international students in Australia on a student visa. This represents a 10.9% increase on the previous year. Commencements grew by 13.6% in the same period.
Nationality
Enrolments and Commencements
Asia remains Australia’s main source of international students, representing more than three quarters of Australia’s overseas student market. Significant growth in enrolments was recorded by India (41.9% between 2005 and 2006), Brazil (43.9%), the Middle East (35.7%) and Vietnam (27.5%). Continuing good growth occurred from China (10.5%) and the Republic of Korea (18.8%). Falls in enrolments have been recorded in some of our traditional markets, notably Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. However, Thailand, another traditional market, rebounded from earlier slowing of growth to record an 8.3% rise in enrolments. Brazil entered the top 10 for the first time during 2006. Singapore is now the 12th largest market.
There have also been significant increases in the number of enrolments from several other markets just outside the top 10 including Vietnam (27.5%), Sri Lanka (31.6%), and Canada (10.7%).
International student enrolments by nationality (top 10 markets), 2006
|
Nationality |
Enrolments |
% of Total |
Growth on
2005 |
|
China |
90,287 |
23.5% |
10.5% |
|
India |
39,166 |
10.2% |
41.9% |
|
Republic of Korea |
31,257 |
8.1% |
18.8% |
|
Hong Kong |
20,523 |
5.3% |
-3.8% |
|
Malaysia |
19,166 |
5.0% |
-1.0% |
|
Thailand |
17,889 |
4.7% |
8.3% |
|
Japan |
17,804 |
4.6% |
-6.6% |
|
Indonesia |
15,038 |
3.9% |
-6.7% |
|
United States of America |
12,045 |
3.1% |
-4.3% |
|
Brazil |
10,190 |
2.7% |
43.9% |
| Other |
110,453 |
28.8% |
12.3% |
|
Total - All nationalities |
383,818 |
100.0% |
10.9% |
There was an increase of 13.6% in the number of commencements between 2005 and 2006. Among the top 10 markets, India, the Republic of Korea and Thailand showed strong growth (56.8%, 19.4% and 11.7% respectively). Brazil, the ninth largest market, also showed continued good growth in commencements (39.5%). China showed growth in commencements of 5.4%, however this was less than half the growth experienced between 2004 and 2005 (11.8%).
Other markets that showed good growth between 2005 and 2006 were Vietnam (36.7%), Sri Lanka (43.9%) and Colombia (105.9%).
International student commencements by nationality (top 10 markets), 2006
|
Nationality |
Commencements |
% of Total |
Growth on 2005 |
|
China |
46,476 |
22.0% |
5.4% |
|
India |
21,337 |
10.1% |
56.8% |
|
Republic of Korea |
19,008 |
9.0% |
19.4% |
|
Thailand |
10,509 |
5.0% |
11.7% |
|
Japan |
10,497 |
5.0% |
-8.3% |
|
United States of America |
9,983 |
4.7% |
-4.9% |
|
Hong Kong |
9,093 |
4.3% |
0.2% |
|
Malaysia |
7,842 |
3.7% |
0.7% |
|
Brazil |
7,715 |
3.7% |
39.5% |
|
Indonesia |
6,624 |
3.1% |
-1.5% |
|
Other |
62,212 |
29.4% |
19.7% |
|
Total - All nationalities |
211,296 |
100.0% |
13.6% |
Sector
The highest proportion of international student enrolments in 2006 was in the Higher Education sector (45%), and enrolments in the sector grew by 5.2% on 2005. Commencements in the sector grew 4.9% overall. Commencements growth from China was only 2.5%, significantly down on the 19.6% growth experienced between 2004 and 2005. This suggests a slowing of growth from this market in the sector. More than half of enrolments were in the fields of study ‘Business Administration, Management’ and ‘Computer Science, Information Systems’ (42.7% and 12.1% respectively).
The Vocational and Technical Education sector had the largest growth in 2006, with enrolments increasing by 25.7% and commencements increasing by 29.9% in the last year. Significant growth was in 'Services, Hospitality and Transport', with an enrolments and commencements growth of 71.7% and 71.5% respectively. This growth in the last year has seen this field of study surpass ‘Business Administration, Management’ as the most popular. Together, these two fields of study attracted more than two-thirds of enrolments in the sector.
International Student Enrolments and Commencements by Sector, 2006
|
Enrolments |
Commencements |
|
2006 |
Growth on 2005 |
2006 |
Growth on 2005 |
| Higher Education |
172,297 |
5.2% |
69,082 |
4.9% |
| VTE |
83,685 |
25.7% |
49,809 |
29.9% |
| ELICOS |
77,468 |
19.2% |
59,615 |
19.4% |
| Other |
25,651 |
0.2% |
21,448 |
0.2% |
| Schools |
24,717 |
-1.7% |
11,342 |
7.7% |
| Total |
383,818 |
10.9% |
211,296 |
13.6% |
The ELICOS sector showed significant growth in both enrolments and commencements (19.2% and 19.4% respectively). This is markedly higher than the 5.1% and 9.5% growth experienced in 2005. This growth was largely driven by the markets from the Republic of Korea, Brazil and India. Colombia also showed good growth, albeit from a much smaller base.
The Schools sector experienced a decline in enrolments (-1.7% growth on 2005) but an increase in commencements (7.7%). This is the first annual rise in commencements in the sector since 2003. While Chinese enrolments declined (-7.1% growth), commencements growth was positive at 6.2%. Commencements from the Republic of Korea (17.4%), Vietnam (56.5%) and Germany (27.0%) all grew strongly on the previous year.
The ‘Other’ sector, which refers to Foundation, Enabling and Bridging courses grew at a rate of 0.2%, the same growth as for 2005.
Detailed statistical breakdowns based on nationality, sector, field of study and State and Territory are available on the AEI website.
Note
AEI data are extracted from the Commonwealth Provider Registration and International Student Management System (PRISMS) database which is updated continually by education providers and by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Consequently, when AEI releases new monthly data, it also updates its data for previous months in the current year to reflect these changes. Data on enrolments and commencements relate only to international students in Australia on a student visa.
The new data can be viewed at: http://aei.dest.gov.au/AEI/MIP/Statistics/StudentEnrolmentAndVisaStatistics/2006/Default.htm
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