AEI releases July 2007 International Student Enrolment data

International Student Enrolments Up 17.9 % in July 2007

The year-to-date (YTD) July 2007 international student data show a total of 392,095 enrolments of full-fee international students in Australia on a student visa. This represents a growth of 17.9 per cent over the same period in 2006. Commencements grew by 25.5 per cent

Nationality

Enrolments
The Asian region remains the main source of Australia’s international student market—four out of every five (79.0%) international students were of Asian nationality. Strong growth in enrolments from the top three source nationalities continues. Growth in enrolments from India was strong at 62.9 per cent between YTD July 2006 and YTD July 2007. The growth from China and the Republic of Korea in the same period was 17.5 per cent and 14.2 per cent respectively. Continuing good growth occurred from North Africa and the Middle East (42.5%), Vietnam (39.3%), Brazil (23.8%) and Sri Lanka (36.8%). Nepal continued to show particularly strong growth with an increase of 282.2 per cent (or 4,938 enrolments). Falls in enrolments continued to be recorded in some of Australia’s traditional markets, notably Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Japan. Malaysia, another traditional market, has had seven successive months of positive growth and appears to have rebounded from the decline in enrolments experienced in 2005 and 2006.

International student enrolments by nationality (top 10 markets), YTD July 2007

Commencements
There was a 25.5 per cent increase in the number of commencements between YTD July 2006 and YTD July 2007. Among the top ten markets India, China and the Republic of Korea showed strong growth (95.5%, 27.2% and 12.5% respectively). Thailand and Malaysia also recorded improved commencements growth (12.6% and 9.6% respectively). Commencements from Japan continue to be in decline, recording an 11.0 per cent fall. Brazil continued to show growth albeit at a slowing rate of 18.0 per cent. Nepal experienced very strong growth in commencements (400.2%) and is now the eleventh leading source market for commencements. Overall, it also recorded the third highest absolute growth in student commencements on the same period in 2006 after India and China.

International student commencements by nationality (top 10 markets), YTD July 2007

Sector
In YTD July 2007, the higher education sector accounted for 44.5 per cent of all international student enrolments. In the last three years, the sector’s share of the international student market has slowly declined although the number of enrolments has increased in absolute terms. This has occurred because of the strong growth experienced by the vocational education and training (VET) and, to a lesser extent, ELICOS sectors.

YTD July 2007 enrolments and commencements in the higher education sector increased by 5.3 per cent and 10.2 per cent respectively on the same period in 2006. Strongest growth in commencements among the top ten nationalities was from the Republic of Korea, India and Malaysia (20.7%, 20.4% and 8.7% respectively). Commencements from Nepal have continued to grow strongly from a small base (241.0%). Nepal is now the eleventh largest source nationality with the third highest absolute growth in commencements in the sector. Most of this growth from Nepal has been in ‘Business Administration and Management’, ‘Computer Science and Information Systems’ and ‘Nursing’.

In YTD July 2007, the fields of study with the highest absolute growth in commencements across the higher education sector were ‘Business Administration and Management’ and ‘Nursing’ (2,630 and 695 commencements respectively on the same period in 2006). The broad fields of study attracting the largest proportion of commencements were ‘Business Administration and Management’, ‘Computer Science and Information Systems’ and ‘Engineering and Surveying’, all of which have shown good growth.

The growth in the VET sector continued in YTD July 2007, with enrolments increasing by 43.9 per cent and commencements by 50.0 per cent over the same period a year earlier. The main market contributing to the overall increase in the sector was India (182.6% or 13,721 enrolments) compared to 28.8 per cent and 25.5 per cent for the next two largest contributing nationalities, China and the Republic of Korea. In terms of absolute growth, India recorded the largest growth in commencements in the sector, followed by Nepal and China. In YTD July 2007, the growth in commencements from India and China was 180.6 per cent and 35.3 per cent respectively on the same period in 2006. However, these increases were overshadowed by growth of 512.1% for Nepal, albeit from a smaller base. 

In YTD July 2007, almost two-thirds (63.3%) of VET enrolments from India were in ‘Services, Hospitality and Transport’, up from 19.8 per cent in the same period in 2002. The shift to this field of study has seen the fields of ‘Computer Science and Information Systems’ and ‘Business Administration and Management’ become less popular with Indian students. YTD July 2002 data showed more than two-thirds (69.4%) of enrolments in these fields, declining to 14.5 per cent by YTD July 2007.

Almost three-quarters (70.8%) of all enrolments in the VET sector were in the fields of ‘Services, Hospitality and Transport’ and ‘Business Administration and Management’. Students from the top three source nationalities (India, China and the Republic of Korea) accounted for nearly half (47.2%) of all enrolments in these fields.

International Student Enrolments and Commencements by Sector, YTD July 2007

The ELICOS sector showed strong growth between YTD July 2006 and YTD July 2007 in both enrolments and commencements (32.8% and 40.0% respectively). This growth was largely driven by China and India. Colombia, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Brazil also showed good growth, although Colombia and Saudi Arabia were from much smaller bases.

The Schools sector experienced good growth between YTD July 2006 and YTD July 2007 (11.6% and 27.0% in enrolments and commencements respectively). The sector has so far seen positive growth in each month of 2007 after a lengthy period of decline from 2003 to 2006. This growth was largely driven by the Republic of Korea and China. Vietnam also showed good growth, albeit from a smaller base.

Detailed statistical breakdowns based on nationality, sector, field of study and State and Territory are available on the AEI website.

Note

AEI enrolment data are extracted from the PRISMS database which is updated continually by education providers and by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.  Consequently, when AEI makes a new release 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.

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