Asian wave behind surge in international students Down Under

30 Sep 2016

Student visa applications to study in Australia has steadily been on the rise over the past five years, with an increase by 7.8 percent this year compared to the previous year, reported the DIBP.

According to its data, there were over 358,200 applications this year, marking the fifth consecutive year of growth in student visa applications.

As with previous years, China remains the top country of origin for applicants, with 74,940 applications this year.

There were 401,423 student visa holders in Australia in June following a rise over the past few years #intlED https://t.co/d094suMvN1

— Student.com (@Student) September 29, 2016

Overall, China and India saw the number of applications lodged by nationals outside of Australia go up 11.4 percent and 8 percent respectively compared to last year, while Brazil saw the highest growth with a 21.7 percent jump.

By the end of June this year, there were more than 401,423 student visa holders in Australia, with over a third coming from China (22.7 percent) and India (13.4 percent).

The DIBP said there was a spike in applications for the Temporary Graduate visa compared to the previous year, as a greater number of student visa holders in Australia had become eligible to apply for the Post-Study Work stream.

International student enrolments in Australia grew 11 % between January and July this year #austchamtalkingpoints https://t.co/Gsm1066X5a

— AustCham Beijing (@AustChamBJ) September 28, 2016

The grant rate for student visas have also remained high at 90.5 percent, mainly due to increases in visas granted to students from China (14.6 percent), India (8.9 percent), and Brazil (14.7 percent).

Thailand and South Korea round out the top five countries with the most students applying for visas.

As for student visa holders in the country, however, while China and India are still the top two, the bottom three of the top five are Vietnam, Nepal, and South Korea – demonstrating Australia’s popularity as a higher education hub for the Asia-Pacific region, which officials are hoping to leverage on.

According to Student.com, the largest proportion of international students in the country as of 2014 were studying business and management (120,476 students), followed by engineering (26,845), with mathematics and computer sciences in third place (21,271).

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