Once a year, Australian universities participate in a voluntary survey about how many of their students studied overseas as part of their course, including students travelling to Indo-Pacific countries as part of the New Colombo Plan. Some key points from the 2015 AUIDF* survey are:
- 38,144 students from Australian universities studied overseas in 2015, an increase of nearly 20% on 2014 and the largest number so far recorded
- Over 19% of domestic undergraduates completing in 2015 had studied overseas during their degree. This exceeds an equivalent figure for the USA (15.1%), indicating that Australian university students are some of the most internationally-mobile students in the world (on a per capita basis)
- Over 11,000 undergraduate domestic students in 2015 travelled to countries identified as priority destinations under the New Colombo Plan, an increase of 32% on 2014.
*Australian Universities International Directors Forum