Saturday, February 28, 2009

student enrolment at record high

This post is inspired by an article in The Australian on 26th of feb 2009.
The year 2008 has seen a record number of International students enrolled at Australian Universities. more than significant percentage of student enrollment has been from India and China. It is predicted that student intake may not be affected significantly due to the world wide economic crisis, and that student numbers will continue at this rate for the next couple of years. here is the article...


Overseas student enrolments in Australia at record high

Enrolments by overseas students in Australian educational institutions rose a record 20.7 per cent to 543,898 in 2008 - the largest increase since 2002 - according to the latest Australian Education International figures.

``This is the first time international enrolments have exceeded 500,000 in a calendar year,'' federal Education Minister Ms Gillard said.

The rise in student enrolments from Asia - up 21.5 per cent - was recognition of Australia's ongoing relationship with its Asian neighbours and the strong awareness of Australia as a quality education destination, she said.

International education contributed $14.2 billion to the economy in 2007-08, making it Australia's third-largest export behind coal and iron ore.

The 20.7 per cent increase was underpinned by 46 per cent growth in vocational education, an 11.8 per cent increase in commencements in universities and a 22.8 per cent increase in crucial English language programs which feed into universities.

The latest AEI figures are in line with 15 to 20 per cent growth figures that have been produced by Australia's export education boom over the medium term, and led to the federal Government's AEI announcing last October that overseas student enrolments exceeded 500,000 for the first time.

The latest figures appear to provide further evidence for a belief that higher education is recession resilient, or at least recession-proof.

However they will be treated with caution by universities since they are from last December and do not take into account the crucial February/March enrolment time.

Ms Gillard acknowledged the impact of the global financial crisis on international student enrolments in 2009 ``will become clearer in the coming weeks".

``It is encouraging to hear a number of Australian education institutions reporting continuing strong interest from international students wishing to study in Australia,'' the Deputy Prime Minister said.

The Rudd Government was working closely with Australia's international education industry to ensure overseas student demand was maintained in 2010 and beyond, she said.

The fall in the value of the Australian dollar made an Australian education more affordable, senior export education observers said.

Universities Australia chief executive Glenn Withers told The Australian recently that universities were confident they could maintain their overseas student numbers ahead of competitor countries over the next few years, even in times of international economic difficulty.

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more students flowing into the 30 or so universities (located in 4 major cities)in australia..what does this mean for you? 

with time it gets harder to get apartments/shared accomodation

getting a part time job becomes very competitive

getting a full time job after graduation is only for the cream (Top %)of the students

so does this mean you should not come here? NO ...there is always a way out ! in the forthcoming articles, we will bring you more updates on these lines.

 



1 Comment:

Gauri said...

This is good news as well as bad. Sure there would be competition to get accommodation and part-time, but i hear the scenario isn't good now either.
Hoping for the best!