This page contains data for the offshore delivery of Australian higher education courses in 2022.
On this page:
Many students around the world study Australian higher education courses without coming to Australia.
For an example, an Australian university may have campuses in one or more countries outside Australia or deliver courses through partnership arrangements with foreign institutions, or directly deliver courses online. The data sourced from the Australian Higher Education Statistics Collection is limited to students in courses recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework.
Overseas higher education enrolments
448,642
14% less enrolments from 2019
2% more from 2021
Offshore enrolments
178,027
40% of overseas students studying Australian higher education courses offshore
2% decrease from 2021
Onshore enrolments
270,615
5% more enrolments from 2021
Course delivery to offshore students
43,225
Students studying at
offshore campuses
2% more from 2021
104,190
Students studying in offshore partnerships and/or other programs
2% increase from 2021
30,612
Students studying in
distance education
19% less from 2021
| Locations | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 17948 | 18094 | 19341 | 21309 | 22834 | 24224 | 26192 | 45789 | 80769 | 72629 |
| Singapore | 31444 | 31136 | 28692 | 27038 | 26965 | 25871 | 25598 | 25333 | 23197 | 22344 |
| Malaysia | 19748 | 19401 | 18761 | 19349 | 19916 | 19808 | 19609 | 18893 | 17423 | 16033 |
| Vietnam | 8434 | 7754 | 6934 | 6985 | 6816 | 7022 | 8217 | 10910 | 14186 | 17097 |
| India | 1242 | 1736 | 1953 | 3427 | 6735 | 5014 | 5578 | 7470 | 5784 | 9016 |
Considerations for interpreting this data
Overseas student data is published annually by the higher education student data collection reported by all higher education providers.
The data include all HE institutions that have been approved under the Higher Education Support ACT 2003 (HESA).
The top countries represent study locations but not necessarily the nationalities of those students. For example, about 14 per cent of students undertaking Australian university programs in Singapore were not permanent residents of Singapore.