2019
International student
data summary

End of Year Summary of International Student Data 2019
In 2019, there were 956,773 enrolments generated by 758,154 full-fee paying international students in Australia on astudent visa. This represents a 9.7% increase in enrolments on 2018 compared with an average annual enrolments
growth rate of 10.3% per year over the preceding five years. Commencements increased by 7.6% on 2018. This compareswith the average annual commencements growth rate of 7.9% per year over the preceding five years.
Sector
The largest volume of enrolments andcommencements in 2019 were in higher
education (46.2% & 34.7% respectively) followed
by VET (29.7% & 33.2%), ELICOS (16.4% & 22.8%)
and the non-award sector (5.0% & 6.9%).
Postgraduate
researchcommencements
increased by 2.4%, while other postgraduate
commencements grew by 8.7% on 2018 figures.
Bachelor degree commencements grew by 9.1%
over the same period.
Nationality by sector
In the higher education sector, the top twosource countries were China (37.3% ofenrolments) and India (20.5%). In the VET sector
India contributed the largest share of enrolments(15.9%) followed by Nepal (10.3%) China (8.5%) and Brazil (7.8%).
In the ELICOS sector, China was the largest source of enrolments (26.9%). Colombia was the next largest nationality(11.3% of enrolments), followed by Brazil (10.5%) and Thailand (5.8%). In schools, China was the largest source ofenrolments (47.0%), followed by Vietnam (16.6%) and South Korea (5.3%).
In the nonaward sector,
more than athird (37.5%)of enrolments
were students
from China.
The USA andthe UK were afurther 14.1%
and 4.0%
respectively.
Enrolmentsfrom China
and the UK
saw a drop of
6.9% and 7.3%
respectively.
Enrolmentsfrom the USA
were up by
5.3 %.

Enrolments

Commencements

2018

2019

Growthon 2018

Share of all
sectors

2018

2019

Higher Education

398,140442,219

11.1%

46.2%

165,593

VET

242,956

283,893

16.8%

29.7%

146,429

ELICOS

154,910

156,880

1.3%

16.4%

Schools

26,71925,564-4.3%

Non-award

49,842

48,217-3.3%

SectorGrowthon 2018

Share of all
sectors

178,744

7.9%

34.7%

170,956

16.8%

33.2%

116,525

117,694

1.0%

22.8%

2.7%

13,055

11,952

-8.4%

2.3%

5.0%

37,03735,736

-3.5%

6.9%

Total in Australia
872,567
956,7739.7%
100.0%
478,639
515,0827.6%
100.0%The top 5 nationalities contributed 57.2% of Australia's enrolments in Double-digit commencements growth in selected
all sectors
markets outside the top 5.
GrowthShare of all
GrowthNationality
20182019 on 2018 nationalities Nationality
2019 on 2018
Rank
China

255,119

261,056

2.3%

27.3%

Colombia

21,86821.5%

6India107,464

143,999

34.0%

15.1%

Philippines

13,991

90.8%

11

Nepal

51,94369,365

33.5%

7.2%

Pakistan

10,000

26.5%

12Brazil

40,63340,918

0.7%

4.3%

Sri Lanka

8,065

24.9%

14

Vietnam

29,89431,876

6.6%

3.3%

Saudi Arabia

4,192

54.8%

23

Other nationalities

387,514409,559

5.7%

42.8%

Chile

4,323

11.5%

24

All nationalities

872,567

956,7739.7%

100.0%

Mongolia

3,750

23.6%

26

Source: Provider Registration and International Student Management Systems (PRISMS). The data on enrolments and commencements(including the data in this update) relate only to international students in Australia on a student visa.
For more information, visit https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/international-student-data/pages/default.aspx or contact
IEResearch@dese.gov.au