The vast majority of Australia’s exports of education occur when a
student travels to Australia to study. Based on the typology of
four modes of supply of services for exports provided by the World
Trade Organisation this is typically defined as consumption abroad,
where the consumer (in this case the student) crosses national
borders in order to obtain the service (in this case education);
this on campus mode is the predominant mode for trade in education
services. The other three modes outside of Australia: commercial
presence, cross-border supply and the presence of natural persons
are grouped together as transnational education.
In July 2008 there were 460,000 full-fee paying, international
students in Australia on a student visa, across all education
sectors, according to Australian Education International (AEI).
This figure does not capture the total number of international
students enrolled in fee-paying courses in Australian institutions
as there is an additional 100,000 students studying offshore in
transnational education, and a further 56,000 international English
language students studying in Australia on visitor, working holiday
and other visas.
Of the 460,000 international students studying in Australia on
student visas 37.7% were enrolled in Higher Education, 31% in
Vocational Education (VET), 18.4% in English language 6% in Schools
and a further 6% in Foundation Studies and Other. The fastest
growing sectors are ELICOS and VET which experienced growth of
22.3% and 41.8% respectively in commencing student enrolments in
July 2008.
IDP Education provides statistics and trends about the numbers
of international students enrolled in Australia’s universities.
These data are analysed at National State and University
levels.
More information is available in Higher Education Fast Facts
IDP supports the growth of Australia’s other education sectors.
Consequently the Research Services team monitors and analyses
performances and trends within these other sectors in Australia’s
international education industry.
More information is available in Vocational Education Fast
Facts, ELICOS Fast Facts, and Schools Fast Facts.
