Australia’s booming foreign student number revealed in OECD report

Australia’s intake of foreign students is up to seven times larger than other nations, making it one of the highest in the world, a new report has found.

An OECD report found Australia takes in the highest ratio of overseas students.

Australia takes in 28 foreign students for every one student it sends abroad, a new report has found.

The figures have been revealed in the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report, which showed the nation had the highest ratio of all 36 member countries.

Other countries took in an average of four students for every one they sent overseas.

The Education at a Glance report revealed one in five Australian tertiary students were internationals, compared to just one in 20 for other countries.

And of all countries, Australia took in 10 per cent of the total number of foreign students.

One third of international students in Australia hail from China.

International students were enrolled in almost half of all Australian masters degrees, and nearly one third of doctoral programs.

UNSW expert in education measurement Associate Professor Jihyun Lee said Australia’s enrolment of foreign students in specialist courses was among a number a number of growing concerns.

“Currently, Australian universities depend on international students for their survival of higher-degree programs,” she said.

“While the Australian government provides up to four years of post-degree stay for international students, it is inevitable that Australia faces a drain of highly educated specialists.

“The issue is further complicated by a lower proportion of doctoral program graduates in the field of Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction in Australia (17%), compared to other industrialised countries such as Sweden (25%), Korea (24%), Japan (23%) and Canada (21%).

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“Australia can do better in attracting younger generations to be trained at the highest level in the fields that will be more in demand in the near future.”

Australia’s international students also paid some of the highest fees.

The report found an international student was charged nearly four times the annual fee for a bachelor program to other pupils — at almost $28,000.

One in three international students in Australia come from China, while 14 per cent hail from India.

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Originally published as Australia’s booming foreign student number revealed in OECD report