The 42 Australian universities in 2024 earned $12.33 billion from international student fees, 27.3% of gross revenue of $45.17 billion. Compared to the $12.33 billion in international student fees, Australian government funding in 2024 aggregated to $21.2 billion.
27 universities were in surplus in 2024, including all Group of 8 universities. 15 universities were in deficit in 2024.
The university with the highest proportion of revenue from international student fees is Torrens University Australia, where $194 million in fees from international students made up 56% of total revenue of $347 million. Next is The University of Sydney, where $1.603 billion in fees from international students made up 41% of total revenue of $3.885 billion.
Detail is in the paper Revenue 2024 by Alan Olsen.
In Australian universities in 2024, international students commencing bachelor degrees and domestic students commencing bachelor degrees both performed at the same level. Both cohorts passed 88% of what they attempted.
314,056 students commenced bachelor degrees in 42 Australian universities in 2024. 73% were domestic students, 27% were international students.
The 84,983 international students passed 88.0% of what they attempted, the 229,073 domestic students passed 87.9% of what they attempted.
As the chart shows, there is a long history.
Detail is in the paper Student Success 2024 by Alan Olsen
In total, 32.7% of students at all levels of education in Australian universities in 2024 were international. 41.7% of postgraduate research students were international, 52.3% of postgraduate coursework students were international and 23.8% of undergraduate students were international, as in the chart.
In terms of field of education, 62.5% of students in IT were international and 55.2% of students in Business were international.
Detail, by level and field of education, is in the paper Bachelors & Doctors 2024 by Alan Olsen.
Australia has a world class higher education system.
From rankings such as Times Higher World University Rankings, measures of numbers and proportions of universities in the world rankings are important. But measures of numbers and proportions of students in world ranked universities may provide more insight.
The finding that does not beat about the bush:
26% of students in Australian universities are at universities in the world’s top 100
26% of students in UK universities are at universities in the world’s top 200
23% of students in US universities are at universities in the world’s top 500.
Detail is in the paper THES Rankings 2025 by Alan Olsen.
The Institute of International Education released Fast Facts from Open Doors 2025 in Washington DC on 17 November 2025.
The number of international students at US universities and colleges during the 2024/25 academic year increased 4.5% from the previous academic year to the new record high number 1,177,766.
Chart 1 International Student Trends: U.S. shows the trends in numbers over 75 years to 2024/25.
Numbers of new international student enrolments, or commencements, provide a leading indicator of numbers of enrolments. As a leading indicator, the report shows a year-on-year drop in international student commencements in the US of 7.2% from 2023/24 to 2024/25.
Detail is in the paper Open Doors 2025 by Alan Olsen
