Overseas school student numbers on the rise

Media Release
Cite
Print
Released
14/02/2024
Source
Schools, 2023

Total school enrolments reached a record high of 4,086,998 across 9,629 schools in 2023, increasing by 1.1 per cent or 44,486 students since 2022, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The number of Full-Fee Paying Overseas Students contributed to the higher growth rate, increasing by over a third (36.6 per cent) from 2022 to 21,124 students. Between 2019-2022 there was a drop of 41.9 per cent, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Mell Plumb, ABS head of education statistics, said: “This is not surprising given the large increase in net overseas migration seen in 2022-23, the highest net migration on record.”

Independent schools recorded the highest growth rate in enrolments for the seventh consecutive year at 3.9 per cent, followed by Catholic schools, up 1.4 per cent, and government schools, up 0.3 per cent. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school student enrolments continued to rise to 264,935, up by 9,139 (3.6 per cent) from the previous year. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students now make up 6.5 per cent of all school students. 

The Apparent Retention Rate, which is the estimated proportion of secondary students staying at school until Year 12, fell for the sixth consecutive year to 79.1 per cent, 1.4 percentage points lower than 2022. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students the Apparent Retention Rate was 55.9 per cent, marginally higher than in 2013 (55.1 per cent).

In 2023, there were 311,655 full-time equivalent teaching staff across Australian schools, an increase of 1.4 per cent from 2022.

“The average student-to-teacher ratio across Australian schools was 13.1 students to one teacher, the same as in 2022. Independent schools had a lower student-to-teacher ratio (11.8 students to one teacher) than government and Catholic schools (13.4 students to one teacher),” Ms Plumb said.

Media notes

  • When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
  • Apparent Retention Rate provides an estimate measure of the proportion of students who have stayed at school, for a designated calendar year and year level of education. For example, in 2023, an apparent retention rate for years 10 to 12 would measure the proportion of year 10 students in 2021 that had remained in the schooling system until year 12 in 2023.
  • For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team via media@abs.gov.au (8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri).
  • Subscribe to our media release notification service to get notified of ABS media releases or publications upon their release.