Student Numbers & Characteristics

Enrolled students and course completions

The Department of Education’s students dataset provides enrolled student numbers and full-time equivalent load for all higher education providers, with a breakdown by institution, broad field of study, and various student demographics. The Department also provides statistics on award course completions.

Applications, offers and acceptances

Australian Government Department of Education and Training reports annually on the number of applications, offers and acceptances to undergraduate university courses, based on data from Tertiary Admission Centres.

From 2010, this report has included data on applications submitted directly to universities.

International student visas and enrolments

International students are included within the Department of Education’s annual students dataset. The Department also provides a rolling monthly summary of international student commencement and enrolments data derived from the Provider Registration and International Students Management System (PRISMS) database and counts enrolments by students studying in Australia on a student visa.

In addition, the Department of Home Affairs produce data on the number of student visas granted. This is often a leading indicator of future commencements.

Student outcomes

Each year Australian universities’ students and graduates participate in the following national Government surveys:

• The Student Experience Survey (SES) collects important information on the experience of current, on-shore, commencing and later-year undergraduate and from 2017, postgraduate coursework students. The SES measures five aspects of the student experience: skills development, learner engagement, teaching quality, student support, and learning resources.
• The Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS) measures labour market outcomes—employment and median starting salaries—and further activities of graduates four months after completing their course.
• The Graduate Outcomes Survey–Longitudinal (GOS-L) measures the medium-term labour market outcomes—employment and median salaries—and further activities of graduates three years after completing their course.
• The Employer Satisfaction Survey (ESS) collects feedback from the direct supervisors of graduates who participated in the Graduate Outcome Survey. The survey asks supervisors about the generic skills, technical skills and work readiness of the graduate employed in their workplace.

Other surveys

• The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) tracks a cohort of young people on an annual basis, through their transition from school to further studies and work.
• Research reports relating to university students and graduates also rely on data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey.