What is the international student data?

Where does the international student data come from?

Enrolment data is derived from the Commonwealth Provider Registration and International Student Management System (PRISMS) database. PRISMS includes:

Data is initially uploaded into PRISMS by educational providers when an enrolment is offered to a prospective student before a visa is granted, and again when a student obtains and uses their visa to enter Australia and starts studying. The Department of Home Affairs updates PRISMS as students enter or leave Australia or change their visa or residence status. Providers also update PRISMS when students change courses or fail to comply with student visa requirements. PRISMS receives data electronically every night from Department of Home Affairs as student visas are granted or cancelled and as students are recorded as entering Australia. Only enrolments that represent students who have actually started studying in Australia are counted in international student enrolment data.

Enrolments versus students

International student enrolment data generally does not represent the number of overseas students in Australia or the number of student visas issued in different countries. Instead data counts actual course enrolments. The exception is the data at the beginning of a month which represents a close approximation to the number of students enrolled on that day.

How are enrolments counted?

A student attending two different courses in the same reference period (for example ELICOS and Bachelor Degree) will have both enrolments counted. Students will be counted as enrolled in Australia even if they have left Australia temporarily for example during end of year holidays. Students are not recorded as enrolled in Australia if for example they are moving between institutions at the date of reporting and their new course details have yet to be entered by institutions.

The monthly total of enrolments combine continuing enrolments from the previous month with new enrolments commencing during the month.

What is a commencement?

A commencement is a new student enrolment in a particular course at a particular institution.

How is nationality recorded?

International student enrolment data allocates a student’s nationality based on citizenship data uploaded into PRISMS from both Department of Home Affairs and educational institutions. This may not coincide with their country of home residence. The 'Other' category caters for refugees, stateless people and errors in data entry.

How is sector allocated?

Enrolments are allocated to sectors on the basis of their course level within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Courses not covered by the AQF are allocated to 'Other'. However, ELICOS enrolments are treated differently. All courses identified as 'English language' field of study are allocated to the ELICOS sector irrespective of the AQF level of course.

How is provider type identified?

Some of the detailed monthly tables give a government/non-government split based on the way institutions are identified on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS). This distinction does not equate to identifying the balance of public and private provision. Some institutions that would normally be recognised as public institutions have private arms which deliver some of their programmes including for example, ELICOS courses.

What types of international students does the international student enrolment data include?

International student enrolment data covers onshore international students studying on student visas only (visa subclasses from 570 to 575). It does not include overseas students on Australian funded scholarships or sponsorships or students undertaking study while holding a tourist or other temporary entry visas (or their dependants). New Zealand students are not included in this data as they do not require a student visa to study in Australia.

Earlier data

International student enrolment data, derived from the PRISMS database, is available from 2002.  Earlier data is available but is not strictly comparable with data from 2002. These earlier statistics are derived from the Overseas Student Statistics Collection (OSSC). The overseas student statistics in the OSSC were compiled from visa data supplied by Department of Home Affairs, and in the case of higher education data, primarily from the Higher Education Statistics Collection (HESC).

Anything else you should know?

Users of the international student enrolment data should be aware:

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Data categories

The following are descriptions of the data categories in the monthly international student data.

YTD enrolments

The running total of international student enrolments for the calendar year, for example, YTD enrolments to September 2006, is the total of the enrolments for each month from January 2006 to September 2006.

YTD commencements

The running total of international student commencements for the calendar year, for example YTD Commencements to March 2005 is the total of the commencements for each month from January 2005 to March 2005.

Enrolments for month

The total number of international student enrolments in the month. This is the sum of enrolments at the first of month plus commencements for the month.

Commencements for month

The number of international student commencements during the month. A commencement is a new student enrolment in a particular course at a particular institution.

As at first month

The number of international student enrolments as at the first day of the month. This is the number of enrolments for the previous month minus the finishes for the previous month.

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Attribute categories

The following are descriptions of the attribute categories in international monthly data.

Region

North-East Asia
South-East Asia
Southern and Central Asia
Americas
North-West Europe
Sub-Saharan Africa
Southern and Eastern Europe
North Africa and the Middle East
Oceania and Antarctica
Unknown

Nationality

Sector

Higher education
VET
ELICOS
Schools
Other (Non-award courses, enabling courses)

Level of study 

Broad field of education

Also available are:

Narrow field of education

and

Detailed field of education

For full details of these categories, refer to ‘Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001’ (ABS Catalogue No. 1272.0), available as a free download from the ABS website.

Provider type

Government
Non-government

State

New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland
Western Australia
South Australia
Tasmania
Northern Territory
Australian Capital Territory

National*

*This category captures data from institutions with a single national registration that deliver courses to international students across different states and territories.

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Counting methodology

Step 1

Match PRISMS records to identify multiple CoEs that belong to the same student based on personal details, passport numbers and visa numbers.

Step 2

For each matched record where the provider is constant:

Step 3

Where a student changes providers, Step 2 is repeated for the next provider. Then courses from different providers are combined on the basis of same:

Enrolments by students breaking their course by a substantial period will be recorded as two separate enrolments. For example, a master's student, studying in 2002, going on leave for 2003, and re-enrolling in 2004, will be counted twice – once in 2002 and once in 2004. Joining such cases is not appropriate as this would imply a student studied in 2003. However, this will still allow linking of courses where for example; a student attempts a one-year course, but repeats the following year because of a failure or late withdrawal etc.

Joining small fragments introduces errors as it implies a student was studying during the intervening period. Therefore fragments less than 10 percent of standard duration are only joined where they are close to another enrolment record (14 days).

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Sector allocation

HE - Higher Education   VET- Vocational Education and Training    ELICOS - English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students

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