Education Secretary Birmingham (second from left) communicates with international students in Brisbane. (photo by Australian newspaper)
As of February this year, the number of students studying in Australia stood at 509610 and more than five hundred and forty thousand courses, according to figures released today by the Ministry of Education. The number of people from China reached a new high of 173000.
The number of foreign students in Australia is up to 12% in the year, and at present,1/4 of the students in the University of Australia are foreigners. Although the relationship is slightly strained in the near future, China has continued to maintain the status of Australia`s largest country of origin. In the first two months of this year, the number of Chinese students in all universities, colleges and primary and secondary schools in Australia reached 17.3 million, an increase of 18% over the same period last year. Among them, the number of Chinese students in the field of higher education is 11.9 million, an increase of 20%.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, students in Australia came from 190 countries, of which nearly 1 / 3 came from China, 12 percent from India and 5 percent from Nepal, a 54 percent jump from the same period last year. Students from Latin America also increased significantly, with Brazil up 26 percent to 18,999, and Colombian students up 29 percent to 11,999 over the same period.
Data show that 56% of international students are studying in higher education and 24% are in vocational training courses.
This is the first time Australia`s number of students has reached this number at the beginning of the year, and up 12% from the same period last year. Education Secretary Birmingham (Simon Birmingham) pointed out that Australia can now take full advantage of the growing market for international students. In 2017, the education industry generated A $32.2 billion worth of economic benefits for Australia, and it is expected that the output value of the education industry will continue to rise as the number of overseas students increases this year.
伯明翰强调，澳洲的教育产业还支持着旅游、零售以及款待业的约13万个工作岗位。
《澳洲人报》指出，中国留学生数量保持增长，也令原本担心澳中关系紧张、以及担心中国两次发布在澳安全警告会导致学生减少的澳洲高校松了一口气。
澳洲“八校联盟”（Group of Eight）的研究项目尤其依赖中国留学生的学费。“八校联盟”首席执行官汤姆森（Vicki Thomson）表示，学生持续增加显示“尽管现在有一些（不友好的）政治言论，但留学生、尤其是来自中国的学生，继续将澳洲、特别是‘八校联盟’视为优质的留学目的地。”
(IEA) CEO Hanniwood (Phil Honeywood), the Australian association for international education, believes that the success of Australia`s study abroad industry may be partly due to the tightening of visa conditions in other popular countries.
但《澳洲人报》认为，鉴于中国是在去年12月及今年2月发出的赴澳留学预警，因此某些学生可能是来不及撤销注册，而且两国的政治紧张情绪仍可能对教育业造成影响。
