International student monthly summary and data tables

International student data is published monthly, giving the latest available data on students studying on a student visa. This visualisation allows selection of the current, as well as previous monthly and annual, international student monthly summaries.

International student monthly summary

Use the report to explore different views of data on enrolments, commencements and student numbers by month, year, education sector, source country and state/territory.

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International Students - Monthly Summary Graph December 2024

Key points

In year-to-date June 2025 there were 839,199 international student enrolments, a 2 per cent increase in enrolments in 2024 (and an 18% increase on 2019)
The Higher Education sector had the strongest growth (12%) in enrolments, with all other sectors showing minor growth, excepting ELICOS which declined by 37%.
Many international students study more than one course in a reported year. So, while there were 839,199 enrolments counted in the year-to-date June 2025, these were generated by 739,843 international students.
There were 262,282 commencements, which is 13 per cent lower than the same period in 2024. Of these, the number of commencements by students who were new to Australia in 2025 has declined by 23 per cent.
Fifty-seven per cent of international students were from the following five student source countries: China (23% of international students), India (17%), Nepal (8%), Vietnam (5%) and Philippines (4%).
The most popular Field of Education in Higher Education was Management and Commerce followed by Information Technology, while in VET it was Management and Commerce followed by Food, Hospitality and Personal Services.
The most popular Level of Study in Higher Education was Masters degree (Coursework) followed by Bachelors degree, while in VET it was Diploma followed by Certificate IV.

Considerations for interpreting this data

International student data is published in monthly year-to-date (YTD) and annual calendar year formats based on monthly snapshots of Provider Registration and International Student Management System (PRISMS). Snapshots are used to avoid slight variations in data across different extract dates as PRISMS is a live system and is constantly updated.
Monthly YTD data for the current reporting year is available in the monthly summary (PDF) and the monthly YTD data tables.
Student numbers is a count of individuals that have studied within the reference period on a student visa.
Enrolment numbers is a count of a student's enrolment within the reference period. If a student does multiple courses during the reference period, the enrolments will each be counted.
Further information is available in the explanatory notes for data relating to international students studying in Australia.