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.
On this page:
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.
Key points
- In January 2026, 551,717 international students studied in Australia, a nine per cent decline on the same period in 2025.
- Many international students study more than one course in a reported year. Hence, in January 2026 there were 565,601 international student enrolments, a nine per cent decline in enrolments on the same period in 2025. The number of commencements (37,988) declined by four per cent.
- The Higher Education sector had growth in enrolments (3%), while all other sectors showed declines, notably ELICOS (32%).
- Overall, 58% of international students were from the following five student source countries: China (23% of international students), India (17%), Nepal (9%), Vietnam (4%) and Bangladesh (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 Architecture and Building.
- In January 2026, the most popular Level of Study in Higher Education was Masters degree by coursework (42% of total) followed by Bachelors degree (42%), while in VET it was Diploma (34%) followed by Certificate III (22%).
Note: The January data should be interpreted with caution as most higher education and vocational education and training (VET) commencements for first semester typically take place in March each year.
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.