As of 2023, Monash University was the number one ranked university in terms of number of students enrolled, with approximately 59 thousand enrolled full-time equivalent students. That same year, the second ranked university in the nation in terms of student enrollments was University of Melbourne with close to 50 thousand enrolled full-time equivalent students.

Higher education is an important export economy for Australia, with international students paying significantly higher fees for their tertiary studies than domestic students in the country. According to Times Higher Education, the Federation University Australia ranked the highest in terms of share of international students in 2023. During that period, around 52 percent of the students enrolled at Federation University Australia were international students.

International tertiary education sector

An internationally recognized qualification from an Australian university is appealing to many foreign students. Chinese students made up the largest proportion of international students in Australia. In 2017, of the 624 thousand foreign students studying at higher education institutions, around 184.5 thousand originated from China. Management and commerce courses were the most popular courses for international students to study, followed by engineering, society and culture, and information technology.

Economic contribution

International education activity is a significant export income source for Australia. In 2017, around 30 billion Australian dollars were generated from intentional student expenditure – a value that has been increasing consistently over the past years. Chinese students studying onshore on student visas contributed over 10 billion Australian dollars in that year alone. Australia’s major competitors in this sector include its neighbor New Zealand, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Factors affecting student enrolments include increasing tuition fees, visa application costs as well as the comparatively high cost of living in Australian cities.

According to the Times Higher Education's World University Rankings 2023, the highest ranked Australian university in terms of research quality and quantity was the University of Melbourne with a score of 75.9. They were followed by the Australian National University with a score of 69.2, and Monash University, which received a score of 68.7.

The leading universities of Australia The University of Melbourne had the highest ranking in Australia as of 2023, with a score of 77.6 according to Times Higher Education which ranks universities worldwide each year. Monash University and the University of Queensland took out second and third place for Australian universities that year. Monash University was the top-ranked university in terms of student enrollment as of 2022 in Australia, with approximately 60 thousand full-time equivalent students enrolled. In the same year, the University of Melbourne was ranked second in the country in terms of student enrollment, followed by the University of New South Wales.

HECS and HELP Australia

The Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) assist students in paying student contributions, tuition fees, international study expenses, and student service and amenities fees. Students who attend an approved university or higher education provider can apply for a HECS-HELP loan to help pay for their studies. According to a November 2021 survey of Australian consumers, 12 percent of respondents accumulated debt through HECS/HELP loan programs.

As of October 2023, New South Wales had the highest number of universities in the country, with 10 universities. There were two universities that had main campuses in more than one state and were therefore counted under national.

In January 2024, there were approximately 165 thousand international students enrolled at universities in Victoria, in Australia. Universities in New South Wales had the highest number of international student enrollments in this period, with around 222 thousand students.

In 2020, the top earning university in Australia was Monash University in Melbourne, with a total revenue of 2.7 billion Australian dollars in that year. The University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne are also in the top three universities in terms of revenue.

Sandstone universities and the Go8

Like the American “Ivy League”, Australia’s most prestigious universities are often described collectively as “Sandstone Universities”, which is a reference to some of the earliest buildings in Australia being built of sandstone. Another grouping of universities, which takes into account some of the newer additions to Australia’s top universities, is known as the Group of Eight (Go8). The Go8 tend to be Australia’s more research-intensive universities and includes the Australian National University in Canberra and Monash university in Melbourne.

Income and funding

Universities rely on a variety of diverse income sources for their operating revenue. However, more than 50 percent of university income comes from a combination of funding from the Australian government and international student fees. Domestic student contributions through the subsidized HECS-HELP scheme made up less than 20 percent of total university revenue, despite the cost of an average three-year undergraduate degree costing over 25,000 Australian dollars for domestic students.

According to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023, the highest ranked Australian university was the University of Melbourne with a score of 77.6. That same year, the Australian National University and the University of Queensland took out second and third place for Australian universities.

There were more than 141 thousand Chinese student enrolments in Australia as of June 2022, with approximately 116.7 thousand enrolled in the higher education sector alone. This high figure is largely in part to many institutions readily accepting international students, as well as the use of English as the main language in most educational courses. The limited amount of university spots in China due to its large population also forces Chinese students to look overseas for education opportunities.

Demographic of international students in Australia  

Australia has the largest proportion of international students in higher education, with almost a third of all higher education students in the country being international students. Furthermore, Chinese students make up the biggest share of these international students, with almost twice as many students as second-placed India.

Education as a source of income  

While the cost of education is regulated for local students, universities in Australia can set their own prices for internationals. This creates a market where institutions are permitted to set prices to match the high demand for education. The export income from international education activity in Australia reached tens of billions of dollars over the past decade. Despite the high cost of entry, there is still plenty of demand with some universities such as the University of New South Wales having more than 40 percent of students coming from overseas.

The highest ranked Australian university in terms of teaching quality as of 2023 was the University of Melbourne with a score of 67.1. This was followed by Monash University in Victoria, with a teaching quality score of 56.9.

In 2022, the state which had the highest number of people enrolled in study was New South Wales, in which there were just under 958 thousand people enrolled in study. The Northern Territory, on the other hand, had only 29.2 thousand people enrolled in study. Out of the Australian states, New South Wales is home to the highest number of universities.

Over the past 20 years, the share of the Australian population that holds a degree at a bachelor level or above has increased by more than six times, reaching 50.8 percent in 2022. Since May of 2023, however, that number has dropped to only 32 percent. In Australia, the tertiary education sector comprises both public and private institutions. The student body is comprised of both domestic and international students. University graduate employment Domestic students make up most of the graduates within Australia. The vast majority of graduates in 2022 found full-time employment after studying, with the fields of medicine, pharmacy and rehabilitation having the highest rates of employment post graduation. Dentistry graduates earned the highest median full-time salary of recent university graduates in the country. International study landscape International students are a rapidly growing segment of Australia’s tertiary education sector. The export income from international student activities amounted to just under 36.5 billion Australian dollars in 2023. Chinese students accounted for the largest share of international student enrollments in the same period. Students completing their studies at Australian universities are attracted to the prestige of obtaining a degree at some of the best universities in the world. Moreover, graduates have the opportunity to enter the Australian labor market and to apply for a permanent visa in the country.

In 2023, there were over 436 thousand international students enrolled in higher education across Australia. The number of international students enrolled in higher education in Australia has increased from 2009, when there were just over 226,000 students from overseas. Studying in Australia has become extremely popular due to its high standard of education and multicultural environment. Education export income For Australian citizens, tertiary education is made more accessible through government supported subsidies and a payment deferral scheme. However, non-citizens and international students must pay the full cost of their degree, which can be well over 20,000 Australian dollars per year. Despite the relatively high cost of education in Australia, it is a popular choice for international students and education exports contribute significantly to the Australian economy. In 2023 alone, the total value of education exports in Australia was 36.4 billion Australian dollars, bringing the income back to pre-COVID-19 values. International student fees are also the second most valuable source of income for universities, after funding from the Australian government. International student population With the substantial income that international students bring to tertiary institutions, it is perhaps unsurprising that the proportion of international students at many Australian universities can be as high as 40 percent of the total student population. In 2023, the total number of international students enrolled in higher education numbered almost 437 thousand, with Chinese students making up almost quarter of the International student population. The majority of international students come from Asia and the Indian subcontinent, however students from Brazil and Columbia were among the top ten international student groups in 2023.

In 2022, the most popular field of education at higher education institutions in Australia was management and commerce, with around 320 thousand new enrollments. Subjects in the society and culture, and health fields were the next most popular study options in that year.

In 2020, the number of overseas students enrolled in Australian universities rose significantly making the country one of the top global destinations for quality education. The largest share of international students hailed from North East Asia who figured over 181 thousand, followed by the share of students from Southern and Central Asia.

As of July 2023, there were approximately 152 thousand Chinese international students enrolled in Australia. There were over 710 thousand international students enrolled in Australian universities as of 2023.

Tribhuvan University in Nepal had approximately 422 thousand full-time students in 2021. This was unquestionably the highest number of students of any Asia Pacific university, leaving Chinese and Thai universities lagging behind in terms of university student numbers. Despite the huge influx of students enrolled in Tribhuvan University, Australia still saw a dramatic surge in the number of Nepalese international students from 2015 onwards. This alludes to the fact that an international tertiary education was just as favorable as a domestic one. Interestingly, most of the universities which made the ranking for the highest number of students were situated in China. An Asia Pacific education Universities across the Asia Pacific region are experiencing a dramatic rise in student population. As a home to powerful and developing economies, it appears more students are eager to secure places in the higher education sectors which boast huge economic potential. China stands as the most popular country for international students in Asia and third most popular for international students globally. The large majority of international students in China are not reliant on Chinese governmental funding from scholarships and are self-funded. Therefore, huge investments are put into the Chinese economy. Other countries such as Thailand are too experiencing increased GDP contributions from the education sector. Despite the growing number of international students deciding to complete their higher education in China, many of the domestic Chinese students choose to study elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region. This is prevalent in the great influx of Chinese students arriving in Australia to study. Qualifications As a higher education in the Asia Pacific region is becoming more popular, initiatives have been set up to ensure qualifications are recognized throughout the many countries across Asia Pacific. The Tokyo Convention – an agreement made between Japan, South Korea, Australia, China and New Zealand – is designed to enable student and academic mobility. Simultaneously, the convention endorses the recognition of higher education qualifications throughout the Asia Pacific region. This in turn appears to encourage more domestic and international students to consider tertiary education in Asia Pacific, as their qualification will likely be recognized in their home countries and elsewhere in the region.

In 2019, Australian universities had a total revenue of 17.78 billion Australian dollars from Australian Government funding alone. International student fees were the next largest source of revenue for universities, with international students bringing in almost 10 billion Australian dollars in the same year.

In 2023, the majority of overseas students in Australia came from China, accounting for around 23 percent of international students. The next largest group was students from India, accounting for around 15 percent of all international students.

As of 2023, Bond University ranked first in student-to-staff ratio in Australia, with a ratio of 10.9 students per staff working at the university. This was followed by the Australian National University with 14.6 students per staff member.

The 2021 Times Higher Education ranking placed the University of Melbourne as the top university in the Oceania region with a score of 78.9. In second and third place were the University of Sydney and ANU. The only non-Australian university to rank in the top 10 was the University of Auckland in New Zealand.