Australian universities increasingly reliant on int'l students: report

CANBERRA, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Australian universities' revenue grew in 2017 on the back of strong international student numbers, data has revealed.

The latest financial report of Higher Education Providers (HEPs), released by the Department of Education and Training, revealed that universities' revenue grew from 30.2 billion Australian dollars (21.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016 to 32 billion Australian dollars (22.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017.

Revenues grew quicker than expenses which rose 5.1 percent from 28.6 billion Australian dollars (20.1 billion U.S. dollars) to 30 billion Australian dollars (21.1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, resulting in a 2-billion-Australian dollar (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) surplus.

The share of income from international student fees rose from 16.3 to 23 percent since 2013 while federal government payments fell from 58.6 to 53.6 percent of total revenues in the same period, indicating that institutions are increasingly reliant on their international student cohorts.

According to Universities Australia, 391,136 international students were educated at Australian universities in 2016, up from approximately 250,000 in 2006.

Northeast Asia, particularly China, was the biggest source of international students in Australia with more than 140,000 coming from the region.

Data from the Education Department has previously revealed that the number of Chinese students beginning study in Australia in 2018 grew by eight percent following 17 percent growth in both 2017 and 2016.