At the start of the year, we looked at Australia’s strategy for international education for the coming decade and predicted a boom of enrollment for Australian institutions in 2022 and 2023 due to pent-up demand. Early indicators after borders were reopened to students in December 2021 supported this prediction, as visa applications flooded into Australia in the early months of 2022.
With the Australian government’s full 2021/22 fiscal year now complete, we’re checking in on Australia’s international education sector. We’ll look to see if the student visa momentum from January and February continued through the rest of the fiscal year, if new trends are emerging by student location or study level, and more.
Key Insights at a Glance
- There were 218,000 student visa applications lodged from January through June in the 2021/22 fiscal year, a new record for these months.1
- More than 103,800 offshore students were granted an Australian student visa between January and June in the 2021/22 fiscal year.
- Higher Education, and Vocational Education and Training (VET) combined for 85% of all Australian student visas granted in the fiscal year 2021/22.
- China, India, and Nepal accounted for 49% of all Australian student visas granted in 2021/22.
Number of Australian Student Visa Applications Lodged Shows Pent-Up Demand
Fiscal year 2021/22 set a new all-time high for student visa applications lodged during the January through June time frame. Let’s take a closer look:
Student visa applications started pouring in the moment Australia reopened its borders. There were 218,000 student visa applications lodged from January through June in the 2021/22 fiscal year. This set a new record for these months, surpassing the previous high from 2018/19.
Offshore students drove this impressive momentum. These students contributed 163,150 of the lodged applications between January and June this past fiscal year. This was an increase of 20% compared to the same months in 2018/19, the previous record high.
Onshore students helped buoy Australia’s international education sector while borders were closed. But, the massive spike of applications from offshore students since borders reopened makes one thing clear: international students from around the world remain keen on studying in Australia, meaning the coming years should be bright and exciting to watch.
January through June accounted for 68% of all applications lodged in 2021/22. For comparison, these months represented between 53% and 56% of all applications lodged yearly from 2015/16 to 2018/19.
Number of Australian Student Visas Granted Comes Roaring Back
Student visa applications may have reached unprecedented levels, but what about the number of Australian student visas granted?
The number of Australian student visas granted returned to a strong spot after borders reopened. More than 151,100 international students were granted an Australian student visa from January through June in the fiscal year 2021/22. And 103,800 of those student visas were granted to offshore students, falling just 12% shy of the pre-pandemic high.
Also, offshore students accounted for 61% of all Australian student visas granted in 2021/22. This is an exciting return to normalcy for international students, as offshore students represented between 62% and 68% of all student visas granted yearly between 2015/16 and 2018/19. This fell to 51% in 2019/20, and plummeted all the way to 36% in 2020/21. The message couldn’t be clearer since borders reopened: Australia is welcoming students from all over the world.
Check out ApplyBoard’s comprehensive resources for students wanting to study in Australia.
International Students Showing Increased Interest in Several Australian Study Levels
What study levels are international students pursuing in Australia? With the bar graph below, you can toggle between study levels to see how each trended since 2015/16.
Higher education, and vocational education and training (VET) accounted for 85% of all Australian student visas granted in the fiscal year 2021/22. Nearly 196,600 students were granted an Australian student visa for these two study levels. 63% of these students—or 123,000—were granted their visa between January and June.
While the number of student visas granted is dominated by the higher education and VET study levels, the applications lodged show that international students have an increased interest in several Australian study levels. In fact, three study levels surpassed their all-time high for applications lodged in the months of January through June: VET, ELICOS, and postgraduate research.
More than 62,200 visa applications were lodged for VET during these months, a growth of nine percent over the previous high. ELICOS saw over 26,700 visa applications lodged, which was a growth of 25% from the previous high. And visa applications for postgraduate research grew 13% over the previous high, with more than 4,300 applications lodged from January through June. The previous highs for all three sectors occurred before the pandemic. The visa application growth for ELICOS is particularly exciting to see, as this study level suffered the most during the pandemic.
Higher education had a grant rate of 96% for the full year 2021/22, including a 95.6% rate during the January to June surge. The grant rate for VET was 84% for the full year, but was a slightly lower rate of 81.7% once application volume surged after borders reopened.
What Are The Top 10 Countries of International Students in Australia?
Let’s briefly check out the top 10 source countries for international students in Australia for the fiscal year 2021/22:
China, India, and Nepal continued as a three-headed dragon for international students in Australia. Combined, these three countries accounted for nearly half of all Australian student visas granted in 2021/22—China with 23%, India 15%, and Nepal 11%. The combined total is five percentage points lower than 2020/21, meaning Australia’s international student body became more diverse in 2021/22.
All ten of these countries saw a growth of at least 49% in student visas granted from January through June compared to the earlier months of the fiscal year, with seven markets seeing at least twice as many visas granted.
Earlier this summer, we delved into the student visa trends for students from India and Nepal studying in Australia.
Australia Increases Its Competitiveness For Latin American Students
Two Latin American countries jumped into the top 10 since we looked at this data in March: Brazil and Colombia. For both countries, granted student visas skyrocketed in the latter half of 2021/22. Both Brazil and Colombia saw their January through June student visas granted total more than triple that of the earlier months.
This explosive growth coincides with Austrade’s launch of the Study Australia Experience platform in January 2022. The platform translates content about Australia’s education sector into Spanish and Portuguese to target the LATAM student recruitment market, and received 310,000 visitors and nearly 37,000 registered users in only six months.2
The positive results of Austrade’s new platform speak volumes about the strong impact that innovative government support can have on the industry’s ability to attract students. We think this project could help the fiscal year 2022/23 set new records for Australian student visas granted to LATAM students.
What’s Next for International Education in Australia?
International students have demonstrated a resoundingly strong desire to study in Australia since the destination market reopened its borders to students at the end of December 2021. The record-setting months of January through June should not come as much of a surprise: a “double cohort” effect drove record-setting years for enrollment in other destination markets.
With beautiful places to visit, many world-class institutions, and more post-graduation jobs available than ever before, Australia’s popularity shows no signs of slowing down. If we sneak a peek at the data for the first month of Australia’s 2022/23 fiscal year, we can see that there were more student visa applications lodged and more student visas granted than in any previous month of July.
Also, the new Australian government has been very supportive and committed to the sector’s recovery. Australia just announced an extension to post-study work rights for international students. This expansion will increase Australia’s competitiveness as a destination market for international students. All told, the upcoming 2022/23 year will certainly be an exciting one to follow in Australia.
Check out ApplyBoard’s recent video showcasing why students should consider studying in Australia, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more great video content:
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FOOTNOTES:
1. All data courtesy of the Australian Department of Home Affairs (ADHA). All data reported according to Australian governmental financial years, which span from July of one year to June of the next year (for example, July 2021 to June 2022 was the 2021/22 year). The data used for this article includes subclass 500 and subclass 570 to 576 visas granted to primary applicants only.
2. Austrade, Study Australia Experience platform engages over 300,000 Latin American students. July 2022.
