Overseas study trips sharply up since Colombo

The number of university students studying overseas has more than doubled in five years, boosted by the New Colombo Plan.

Professor Michael Wesley, left, says the New Colombo Plan is likely to be Julie Bishop’s most important long-term legacy from her time as foreign minister. Picture: David Geraghty

The number of Australian university students opting for a period of study overseas has more than doubled in five years, boosted by the federal government’s New Colombo Plan, which funds students to go abroad.

A new study finds that 49,263 students had an international study experience in 2017, compared with only 24,763 in 2012.

The rising number of students spending time studying overseas means that 17 per cent of the students who graduated in 2017 had been overseas on a trip related to their course.

Most students spend only a few weeks abroad, with 23 per cent of those who had an overseas study experience in 2017 taking a trip of two weeks or less. Another 34 per cent spent between two and four weeks overseas, and 15 per cent had between four and 10 weeks away in the year.

However, 20 per cent of those going overseas in 2017 — about 10,000 students — spent a full term or semester studying overseas, and 3 per cent spent a full year away.

The rapid growth in outbound international students highlights the success universities have had in encouraging domestic students to go for an overseas experience.

Overseas study has received a massive boost from the Abbott government’s New Colombo Plan, championed by former ­foreign minister Julie Bishop, which this year will assist nearly 12,000 students to have a study or work experience in Asia-Pacific countries.

Australian National University international affairs professor Michael Wesley has said the plan is likely to be Ms Bishop’s most important long-term legacy from her time as foreign minister.

This year some of the New Colombo Plan students who are doing semester-length courses overseas will also receive language training.

China and the US were the most popular destinations for students in 2017, with 11 per cent of the overseas study cohort going to each country.

The next most popular were: Britain (8 per cent); Italy, Japan, India and Canada (all 4 per cent); and Indonesia, Germany, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and France (all 3 per cent).

About a quarter of students’ overseas experiences were part of a faculty-led study tour; a fifth involved an internship or other practical placement; and another fifth were part of an exchange program at a host university.

Most of the students who opted for an international study experience in 2017 were undergraduates (71 per cent).

Students who had an overseas study experience in 2017 were pursuing a wide range of courses: 17 per cent were from health, 15 per cent from management and commerce, 9 per cent from science, 8 per cent from engineering, 7 per cent from creative arts, 4 per cent from architecture and building, and 3 per cent from education.

The study was carried out by the Australian University International Directors Forum, a group that represents the senior international education administrators in nearly all universities, using data collected by iGraduate. Data from 37 universities was included in the study.