Research
Snapshot
September 2019
Data on International Students in Higher Education – Explanatory Note
The Department of Education collects data on international students under the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act) and the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA).  Consequently the department has two data sources relating to international students in the higher education sector. This is a summary of the main similarities and differences.  Explanatory notes on concepts such as enrolments and commencements, and on definitions such as ‘nationality’ and ‘sector’ are at:  https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/International-Student-Data/Pages/ExplanatoryNotesforAEIStudentEnrolmentData.aspx
 ESOS Data	Data Include	Data Exclude	Other	
Data are extracted from the Commonwealth’s Provider Registration and International Students Management System (PRISMS) under the ESOS Act.

Data are sourced from: registered providers, education agents, State/Territory governments and the Department of Home Affairs.

ESOS Data are produced by the Department of Education.	•	Enrolments by International students on student visa classes 500 and 590 and who have received “confirmation of enrolments”.  (Note:  One student can have more than one enrolment.)

•	Enrolments from all public and private providers that are registered to offer higher education courses, not just those receiving Commonwealth funding.

•	Details of course level, broad field of study, gender, sector, State and Territory, nationality, level of study, course fees and a public/private provider breakdown.	•	Enrolments by other visa types such as dependants of business visitors and New Zealand citizens.

•	Offshore enrolments.

•	Courses below Bachelor level, as set out by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).	•	Data are presented monthly as enrolments or commencements as: 
(i) at 1st of a month, 
(ii) a total in a month, or
(iii) a year-to-date total.

•	Number of students studying in Australia by nationality available at “data visualisation”.

•	Data for the reference month are available about six weeks later, via the link below.	
Data at: https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/international-student-data/pages/default.aspx.

HESA Data 	Data Include	Data Exclude	Other	
Data are extracted from the Department of Education’s Higher Education Statistics Annual Data Collections. 

Data are sourced from all Higher Education Institutions that have been approved under the HESA Act.

HESA Data are produced by the Higher Education, Research and International (HERI) Cluster of the Department of Education.	•	Enrolments in a higher education award or non-award course with a Commonwealth-funded Australian provider.   

•	Onshore (including all ‘temporary resident’ visa types) and offshore campus enrolments, including distance education.

•	Exchange students and Study Abroad students who are liable for tuition fees and non-New Zealand citizens with New Zealand residency.

•	Details on individual providers, course level, 12 fields of study, gender, State and Territory, tuition fees, country of birth, country of permanent home residence, mode of attendance, commencing students, and award course completions. 	•	Enrolments with non Commonwealth-funded providers.

•	Higher doctorate course enrolments.

•	New Zealand citizens. Under HESA, New Zealand citizens are considered to be domestic students.	•	Data are released in 6 monthly sets: January to June and July to December, about three months after the collection period. 

•	Data are collected on students enrolled on a particular day each year (“census dates”). More information on the HESA collection is available via the link below.	
Data at: http://education.gov.au/higher-education-statistics.