The number of international students accessing Australian education has grown to 509,610 in 2018, according to Australian Government’s Department of Education and Training. 

The International Education reports revealed a 12 per cent rise since 2017 to February 2018, and a 54 per cent rise over the previous five years since 2013. 

“We’ve already seen more than 509,000 international students from over 190 countries flock to our shores this year. We’re on track to continue our record-breaking run of growth in international education,” Minister for Education and Training, Simon Birmingham said. 

The biggest increase of enrolments came from countries such as Nepal with 54 per cent, Colombia with 29 per cent, Brazil with 27 per cent, India with 17 per cent, and China with 16 per cent. 

“We are thankful that so many international students choose to enhance their knowledge and skills in Australia, providing a richer and more diverse experience for both Australian students and other international students,” Mr Birmingham said. 

Australian education has proven to be an important part of Australia export, as the value of international education has grown to 22 per cent from 2016 and $32.2 billion in 2017. 

“We’ll continue to work to promote the value of our education system to the rest of the world, and the 2017 Hobsons International Student Survey highlighted Australia as the safest, most welcoming and best value-for-money country for international students,” Mr Birmingham added.