Students from China accounted for 261 000 enrolments in Australian education last year

There were 758 000 international students in Australia at end December, 9 per cent up on end ’18.

And the boom showed no sign of slowing, with commencements increasing 7.6 per cent on ’18, just 0.3 per cent less than the previous five-year average.

The figures are in annual data announced by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment.

Higher education enrolments increased by 11 per cent to 442 000, 46 per cent of the system, although commencement growth (7.9 per cent) was way behind VET’s 16 per cent.

Overall the boom depended on demand from China. While growth in Chinese student enrolments in all sectors seems to have peaked – up only 2 per cent on ’18, they accounted for 28 per cent of all-nationalities at the end of 2019.