International student deluge approaches one million

Advertisement

The Department of Education’s latest international student statistics, which are current to October 2019, shows a continued expansion in international student enrolments across Australia’s educational institutions.

There were 918,000 international students enrolled across Australia as at October 2019, an increase of 9.8% from the same time in 2018 and up an extraordinary 83% since 2013:

This growth has been driven by both higher education (i.e. universities), as well as vocational education and training (VET), which surged by 11.5% and 16.8% respectively in the year to October 2019:

Advertisement

There were 435,000 international students enrolled in higher education in October, up 91% from 2013. Whereas there were 270,000 VET enrolments, up 111% from 2013.

As expected, most of the growth in international student enrolments has occurred across New South Wales and Victoria, which experienced growth of 9.6% and 10.9% respectively in the year to October 2019:

Advertisement

There were 352,000 international students enrolled in New South Wales educational institutions in October, up 89% from 2013. By comparison, there were 296,000 international students enrolled in Victoria, up 102% from 2013.

Strong growth has also been recorded in Queensland, with 139,000 international students enrolled across the state in October 2019, up 67% from 2013.

Advertisement

New South Wales and Victoria have also driven international student growth across the university sector, with enrolments surging by 11.2% and 11.9% respectively in the year to October 2019:

There were 156,000 international students enrolled at New South Wales universities in October, up 98% from 2013. By comparison, there were 153,000 international students enrolled at Victorian universities, up 120% from 2013.

Advertisement

The recent growth in international students has been driven by India and Nepal, whose enrolments surged by 35% respectively in the year to October 2019. By contrast, Chinese enrolments grew by only 3.0% over the year:

Last year’s stunning research by Professor Salvatore Babones showed that Australian universities have by far the highest concentration of international students in the developed world:

Advertisement

This concentration is certain to rise in the wake of these figures, lowering pedagogical standards further, crushloading everything in sight and weighing on wages growth as disposable foreign labour predominates.

About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.