International student monthly summary

Key points

• In year-to-date August 2025 there were 955,317 international student enrolments, a 1 per cent decline in enrolments on the same period in 2024.
• The Higher Education sector still had growth in enrolments on 2024 (10%), followed by Schools (5%), while all other sectors showed declines, notably ELICOS (38%).
• Many international students study more than one course in a reported year. So, while there were 955,317 enrolments counted in the year-to-date August 2025, these were generated by 804,555 international students.
• There were 376,856 commencements, which is 14 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 18 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 (4%) and the 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.
• In YTD August 2025, the most popular Level of Study in Higher Education was Masters degree by coursework (48% of total) followed by Bachelors degree (37%), while in VET it was Diploma (37%) followed by Certificate IV (20%).