Aussies are an educated bunch, but have you been wondering exactly how many of them are university students or grads?
We did our homework and found all the most relevant Australia higher education statistics so that you don’t have to.
The Most Instructive Facts About Higher Ed in Oz
- Over 5.39 million Aussies aged 15-64 have at least a bachelor’s degree.
- There are 43 universities in Australia.
- Monash University was the top-earning uni in Oz in 2020.
- University revenue from international students dropped to $9.2 billion in 2020.
- By state, New South Wales hosted the most students overall in 2021.
- University enrolment statistics show that there are 422,095 overseas students in AU in 2022.
- 2.2 million people were studying for a non-school degree in Oz in 2021.
- The University of Melbourne is Australia’s top uni.
- Pharmacy undergraduates had the highest full-time employment rate of 95% in 2021.
- The median salary of Aussie undergrads in 2021 was $65,000.
How Many Australians Have Higher Education?
1. Over 5.39 million Aussies aged 15-64 have at least a bachelor’s degree.
(Statista)
The number of university graduates Down Under has steadily grown over the past three decades or so, more than doubling between 2005 (when there were just 2.61 million individuals with a bachelor’s degree or above) and 2021.
It’s unsurprising, then, that when it came to the desire to pursue higher education in Australia, statistics showed that 64.1% of the country’s youth was planning on attending university in 2020 and another 10.2% on going to TAFE or college.
2. About half of Australians have a bachelor’s level degree or higher.
(Statista) (OECD)
The proportion of bachelor’s degree-holders aged 15-74 in AU has increased more than sixfold over the past two decades to an all-time high of 50.2% in 2021.
Additionally, the share of women between the ages of 25 and 64 with tertiary attainment that year was 54% while that of men was 44%. The percentage of women aged 25 to 29 with a bachelor’s degree or higher also outsripped that of men, i.e. 48.3% vs. 36.1%, respectively.
3. 36% of the Australian workforce has a bachelor’s degree or above.
Given how many people in Australia are university educated, it’s no surprise that those with at least a bachelor’s represented over one-third of the country’s 13.13 million workers in 2021.
The proportions of those who had no post-school qualifications and those who had a certificate III or higher vocational education and training (VET) qualifications was identical—29%.
This comes after a significant decline in employment rates among people with higher education. Namely, in February 2020, 22.45% of the nation’s unemployed had a higher ed degree.
General Higher Education Statistics from Australia
4. There are 43 universities in Australia.
(Study Australia) (Statista)
By state/territory, NSW has 11 universities as of July 2021 while Vic and Qld have nine each. Both SA and WA boast five unis per state whereas there are two in the ACT. Tas and the NT have one university each.
5. 35.8% of those with a bachelor’s degree or more live in major cities.
(Australian Bureau of Statistics)
Levels of education in Australia vary by location. Namely, just 20% of individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher aged 15-74 reside in inner regional areas and 16% in outer regional areas as of May 2021.
Similarly, only about 17% of the population in remote and very remote areas has such educational attainment.
6. Over 2.9 million people have outstanding student loan debt Down Under.
(Parliament of Australia)
The number of individuals who have Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debt to pay off went up 1.7% from the year ending in June 2020 to FY 2020–21. Collectively they owe a whopping $68.725 billion. The average student debt in AU was $23,685, or 2.1% of total household debt.
Revenue and Funding Statistics
7. Monash University was the top-earning uni in Oz in 2020.
(Victoria University)
What happens when you can’t pay off debts? To find out, read through this insightful article.
How big is the higher education industry in Australia? Well, not as big as it was pre-pandemic, as the annual net operating results of the country’s universities dropped to $669 million in 2020, a sector low since at least 2009.
Of all universities Down Under, just three reported positive net operating results that year:
- Monash University—$267 million
- The University of Melbourne—$178 million
- The University of Sydney—$107 million.
8. Government financial assistance covered 48.7% of Australian university revenue in 2019.
Although the overall amount increased from $11.4 billion in 2009 to as much as $17.8 billion in 2019, the coverage percentage actually went down from 55.8% in 2009.
Fees, charges and upfront student contributions accounted for another 33.5% or $12.25 billion of this revenue, while 15.8% or $5.76 billion came from other income.
Just 2% or $0.73 billion, in turn, came from state and local government financial assistance.
9. University revenue from international students dropped to $9.2 billion in 2020.
Despite being on a steady climb since 2009, due to the pandemic, the revenue universities generated from international students in 2020 contracted by $868 million from the $10.1 billion earned in 2019.
10. The first missed intake of international university students in Australia due to Covid-19 cost universities over $1 billion in lost revenue.
The border closures due to the coronavirus restricted student enrolment, so in the first six months of 2021, Oz saw a steep decline in new international students enrolling in its public unis, at an annualised rate of 20%-24%.
The estimated losses per missed biannual intake were in the $1 billion-$1.2 billion range.
11. Australian ed exports dropped to $31.7 billion in 2020.
(The Pie News)
The pandemic expectedly took its toll on the country’s education export earnings. By the end of 2020, the income from international students’ tuition fees etc. had dropped 21.4% across all sectors.
Nevertheless, higher education still added $21.1 billion dollars to the economy, generating about two-thirds of this amount.
Student Statistics
12. By state, New South Wales hosted the most students overall in 2021.
NSW is the most academic state, boasting 982,700 students enrolled in study on its territory in 2021.
Victoria came close with 839,800 while Queensland trailed it with an estimated 624,600 individuals studying in that state.By contrast, university enrolment statistics suggest that the Northern Territory had the fewest students that year—just 23,700.
13. NSW likewise had the most domestic students in 2019.
New South Wales also appears to be by far the most popular state for Australians to attend university in, counting 338,960 students in 2019.
For comparison, Vic played host to 263,762 Aussie students while 197,165 of them studied in Qld.
The only other state to break 100k was WA, whose universities were chosen by 106,466 students.
14. University enrolment statistics show that there are 422,095 overseas students in AU in 2022.
(Department of Education, Skills and Employment)
In the January-February 2022 period, the number of international students who had a student visa shrunk by 13% over the same period the previous year.
There were 444,663 enrollments, 59% or 263,752 of which were in higher education and 35% or 154,782 in VET courses.By sector, the year-over-year enrollment decline was 8% in higher ed and 14% in VET.
15. In 2022, nearly one-third of international students in Oz came from China.
Unsurprisingly, China, Australia’s biggest tourism market, accounts for the largest number of international students.
In fact, when it comes to where international students in Australia are originally from, statistics indicate that as many as 61% of them in Jan-Feb 2022 hailed from just five countries:
- China—30% or 125,070
- India—16% or 68,937
- Nepal—8% or 34,740
- Vietnam—4% or 16,511
- Indonesia—3% or 12,366
The top ten countries of origin were rounded out by Malaysia, Pakistan, Colombia, Hong Kong and the Philippines.
16. 2.2 million people were studying for a non-school degree in Oz in 2021.
What is the average education level in Australia? Well, 12% of the population was in tertiary education in 2021, the same rate as in 2020.
1.3 million individuals were attending higher ed institutions, whereas 489,000 technical and further education (TAFE) ones. Roughly 40% of these students were pursuing a bachelor’s degree, 17% were in post-graduate studies and 38% were aiming to attain a certificate, diploma or advanced diploma.
17. In 2021, 55% of Australian higher ed students were female.
(Australian Bureau of Statistics) (Statista)
Women are more likely to attend university Down Under while as many as 62% of young VET students were male in 2021.
Women’s preferred fields of study that year were the following:
Overall, 2 million or 65% of youths aged 15-24 years were in some form of education, whether school or non-school.
18. 8.1% of Indigenous Australians had or were studying for a bachelor’s degree in 2019.
The highest rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged 20-64 years who had attained or were pursuing a bachelor’s in 2019 were the highest in the ACT at 19.5% whereas the lowest were recorded in the NT, at just 4.2%.
19. In 2020-21, Monash University had 57,406 full-time equivalent students.
Australia higher education statistics indicate that by full-time student body size, Monash University is the continent’s largest uni.
The runner up is The University of Melbourne with 50,094 such students enrolled while The University of Sydney and The University of New South Wales are neck and neck in third and fourth spot with 46,453 and 46,234, respectively.
20. Oz had the world’s highest proportion of international students compared to the entire higher ed population in 2020.
At 31%, Australia was the global leader in terms of how much of its overall student body was international in 2020.
Canada came second with 23.7% and the UK third with 22.3% while neighbouring New Zealand had a rate of 13.5%.
Namely, AU was also the fourth most common host destination for overseas students that year behind the USA, the UK and Canada.
21. Half of University of Melbourne students are international.
(Times Higher Education)
The University of Melbourne has the highest share of international students in Australia according to 2022 statistics, at 50%.
Following closely in terms of highest share of international students are The Australian National University with 47% and Monash University with 45%.
22. In 2020, business courses were the most popular among international students Down Under.
As many as 155,901 Australia’s overseas students enrolled in management and commerce courses in 2020 while the next most popular were IT classes with 69,113 enrollments.
Other favourite courses included engineering and related technologies (42,229 students), health (37,983) and society and culture (34,117).
This is to be expected since the top three fields of study among international students in Oz were business and management (38%), mathematics and computer sciences (15%) and engineering (10%).
University Rankings Statistics
23. The University of Melbourne is Australia’s top uni.
Not only is the University of Melbourne the highest-ranked Aussie uni but it’s also 33rd in the World University Rankings 2022.
Second place domestically is shared by The Australian National University and The University of Queensland in the overall rankings.
24. In 2020-21, UM had the best research quality and quantity in Oz.
The dominance of the University of Melbourne was similarly reflected in its marks on the volume and calibre of its research output. Namely, if the world’s top college is considered to be at 100, then UM comparatively scored 76.3.
The Australian National University was also in the mix with 68.3, coming in second in AU, and followed by The University of Sydney with 64.4.
25. The University of Melbourne also had the highest teaching quality Down Under in 2020-21.
UM likewise topped the charts in terms of quality of instruction, getting a score of 67.1. The University of Queensland was a distant second with 54.3, trailed closely by the University of Sydney with 51.3.
26. Bond University boasted the lowest student-to-staff ratio in 2020-21.
While Bond University had one staff member per every 10.2 students, other unis in Australia had much higher student-to-staff ratios in 2020-2021.
Namely, second-ranked Australian National University had 17.8 students for every member of staff but tenth-ranked University of Western Australia had a ratio as high as 22.5.
Postgraduates Employment Statistics
27. 69% of Aussies employed in education and training have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Expectedly, those providing education and training, professional, scientific and technical services and financial and insurance services had the highest rates of bachelor’s degrees and above in 2021:
28. Pharmacy undergraduates had the highest full-time employment rate of 95% in 2021.
(Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching)
On the flip side of that, creative arts undergraduates had the lowest full-time employment rate in 2021 of just 49.2%.
The overall employment rate, however, was highest among rehabilitation undergraduates at 96%. Surprisingly, the lowest rate was among computing and information systems undergrads, only 77.5% of whom had jobs.
Overall, Straya had an average undergraduate full-time employment rate of 68.9%. Further, 84.9% of postgraduate course work graduates had full-time jobs, while 77% of postgraduate research grads were employed full-time.
29. Aussie dentistry graduates got the highest yearly median salaries in 2021 at $100,000.
It’d appear that if you want a well-paying job, studying to become a dentist is the way to go Down Under, as this profession offers the best remuneration.
The other top-earning fields in 2021 were:
- Medicine—$76,000
- Social work—$72,600
- Teacher education—$72,000
- Engineering—$70,000
Just for comparison, jobs that typically require secondary education only, like delivery driver ($27,400) or real estate agent ($60,372), pay much less a year than ones for which the prerequisite is a bachelor’s or higher.
30. The median salary of Aussie undergrads in 2021 was $65,000.
The median undergraduate salary level increased by just 0.5% or $300 between 2020 and 2021.
Higher education levels in Australia naturally led to higher median salaries, with postgraduate coursework graduates getting paid $89,700 and postgraduate research graduates $95,000 a year.
It’s important to note that women in this demographic earned $2,600 less than men a year ($64,200 vs. $66,800), resulting in a difference of 3.9%, up from the previous year’s 2.5%. However, some studies put the overall national gender pay gap at as much as 13.4% in 2020.
31. In 2021, pharmacy graduates got the lowest annual salaries of $50,000.
Similarly, those in the creative arts made around $53,000 a year while jobs in the tourism, hospitality, personal services, sport and recreation industries fetched grads $54,900.
Communications degrees were likewise not the most lucrative, earning graduates a median full-time salary of $56,200.
Let’s Revise
So, we’ve learned that international students usually flock to Australia’s universities, and while the pandemic may have stemmed the flow of new arrivals a bit, enrollments are poised to get back on track.
In any case, we hope that our little cheat sheet on Australia higher education statistics gave you all the knowledge you needed on the matter and perhaps even encouraged you to apply for that scholarship.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Department of Education, Skills and Employment
- Department of Education, Skills and Employment
- OECD
- Parliament of Australia
- Parliament of Australia
- Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Statista
- Study Australia
- The Pie News
- Times Higher Education
- Times Higher Education
- Times Higher Education
- Times Higher Education
- Times Higher Education
- Victoria University
