Weak growth in demand for English courses

Australia could lose the gains of 2012-16, when its share of the global market grew from 11 to 15 per cent.

Growth has plateaued in Australia’s $2.3 billion English language teaching sector and the industry fears it will contract this year, with students lured away by competitor countries.

New figures from industry group English Australia show that the number of overseas students and visitors taking English courses grew by a sluggish 2.4 per cent in 2017 to 177,697.

Even though this figure is a ­record, the slow growth is a sharp contrast to other areas of international education, where the number of international students in higher education courses in Australia grew 14.4 per cent to 349,406 last year and the number in vocational courses grew even more strongly, by 16.1 per cent to 162,527.

According to English Australia, the umbrella group for English teaching schools, the outlook has deteriorated further, with government visa data up to April this year showing numbers from about half of the top 15 student source countries are in decline.

“Although 2017 has been a record year for the English language sector there are underlying issues with market diversity and looking ahead, 2018 has revealed weaker student numbers,” according to Brett Blacker, chief executive of English Australia.

Australia is now in danger of losing the gains it made from 2012 to 2016, when it lifted its share of the global market for English language teaching from 11 per cent to 15 per cent.

Growth was maintained in 2017 only because of a 21 per cent growth in students from Brazil (now Australia’s third largest English language teaching market), 13 per cent growth in students from Colombia (the fifth largest market) and 14 per cent growth from China (the largest market).

But indications are that the growth from Brazil and Colombia has weakened. Visa data also shows a decline in students from Southeast Asia this year.

Australian English language schools are also coming under pressure from Canada, where international students have a clearer path to permanent residency, as well as from the growing numbers of price-sensitive Asian students choosing to take cheaper English courses in Malaysia, The Philippines and Japan. Last year the number of English language students coming from Vietnam to Australia fell by 25 per cent and the number from Thailand dropped by 18 per cent.

Meanwhile, English language students showed a marked preference for studying in the eastern states, particularly Queensland.

Student numbers in Western Australia dropped 28 per cent and in South Australia fell 13 per cent. However, student numbers in Queensland grew by 15 per cent, in NSW by 2 per cent and in Victoria by 6 per cent.

Export income from the sector, known as English language intensive courses for overseas students or ELICOS, is an estimated $2.3 billion, part of the $30.3bn Australia earned for all education exports in 2017.

English language export income is less per student than in higher education or in vocational education, because the courses are shorter.