Australia’s international student picture splits as ELICOS falls sharply

In the year to date December 2025, 846,321 international students studied in Australia, representing a 0.5% decline compared to the same period in 2024. The number of new students in 2025 (202,882) fell more sharply, declining by 15% year-on-year, according to data released by Australia’s Department of Education.

As many international students undertake more than one course within a reporting year, total enrolments reached 1,058,040 over the same period, marking a 3% decline compared to 2024. Commencements also dropped significantly, falling by 15% to 479,104.

By sector, higher education recorded continued growth in enrolments, increasing by 10% compared to the previous year, followed by schools, which grew by 4%. All other sectors experienced declines, most notably English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS), which fell by 35%.

Student source markets remained concentrated, with 57% of international students coming from just five Asian countries: China (23%), India (17%), Nepal (8%), Vietnam (4%) and the Philippines (4%).

For Melanie Macfarlane, CEO and principal of MMMigration and Recruitment, the latest figures don’t come as a shock.

“I don’t find this surprising at all, given the sheer volume of student visa refusals we have seen and the highest ever volume of Tribunal applications – I believe it’s up to 48,000 now approx. compared to two years ago where they had 2,400 student visa refusals only.”

“News of this tends to spread far and wide on social media and does not provide much trust in the visa system, especially with the high cost of a student visa now at AUD$2000, making it the most expensive visa in the world, including for a 6 month English course,” said Macfarlane.

According to the data, Management and Commerce was the most popular field of study among international students in both higher education and VET in Australia, followed by Information Technology in higher education and Food, Hospitality and Personal Services in VET.

While enrolments by level of study remain strong, with master’s degrees by coursework (48%) and bachelor’s degrees (37%) leading in higher education, and diplomas (36%) and Certificate IV (20%) in VET, the sharp decline in the ELICOS sector could impact the entire international education pipeline in the long run.

Clearly integrity and quality is a concern but I would say this is going too far and the clean up of the sector is resulting in the lowest stats in 20 years for the English language sector
_{Melanie Macfarlane, MMMigration and Recruitment}

“Clearly integrity and quality is a concern but I would say this is going too far and the clean up of the sector is resulting in the lowest stats in 20 years for the English language sector, which naturally feeds into higher education and the vocational education sector,” stated Macfarlane.

Macfarlane, along with others in the industry, is calling on the government to lower visa fees for ELICOS students, warning that this could lead to further closures in the sector and describing it as “such a shame for the Australian international education sector, which has taken many years to build given the country’s distance from the rest of the world”.

In a recent op-ed for The PIE News, the country’s assistant minister for international education warned that the Australian government “will not back off from managing the size and the shape of the onshore international student market and ongoing moves towards a more sustainable sector”.

But he said in doing so, the government aims to “maximise policy stability and minimise policy shocks that hamper our nation’s ability to continue to attract the best and the brightest for a premium Australian education”.

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