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A plunge in the issuance of student visas has largely bypassed Australian higher education, with overseas demand for university degrees remaining well above pre-pandemic levels while collapsing in other sectors.

Grants for higher education study rose slightly last financial year, according to newly released Department of 51³Ô¹Ï Affairs figures. Some 206,000 visas were issued, up from 202,000 in 2023-24 and 189,000 in 2018-19 ¨C albeit substantially down from the 2022-23 boom year tally of 261,000.

Around 229,000 visa applications were lodged for the sector, well below the previous two years but above pre-pandemic levels.

The figures reveal a stark contrast with other sectors. The total of 54,000 visas issued for vocational study was the lowest in a decade, including the pandemic years, while the stand-alone English language college sector attracted?only 24,000 visas ¨C the lowest in at least two decades apart from the depths of the pandemic.

Demand for the two sectors plunged to decadal lows, and visa approval rates for the year ¨C 79 per cent for English courses, and 58 per cent for vocational education and training ¨C were easily the worst on record.

Monash University policy expert Andrew Norton said the government was likely to be ¡°moderately satisfied¡± with the overall decline in international student demand.

¡°The migration deterrent policies are working in South Asian markets, with the exception of Bangladesh,¡± Norton . Demand from students in China remained ¡°quite resilient¡±, boding well for the ¡°revenue ambition¡± of research-intensive universities.

Some 64,000 higher education students lodged visa applications from within China, down from 68,000 in 2023-24 but up from around 45,000 annually before the outbreak of Covid-19.

Meanwhile, demand plunged from the subcontinent countries, which dominate overseas enrolments in suburban and regional universities as well as vocational colleges. Offshore visa applications declined last year by about 20 per cent from Nepal, 30 per cent from Sri Lanka, 40 per cent from India, 60 per cent from Bhutan and 80 per cent from Pakistan.

Bangladesh dodged the trend, with offshore visa lodgements rising by about 6 per cent.

Australia¡¯s public universities increased their international education earnings by around 22 per cent last year. The windfall was monopolised by the Group of Eight institutions, where revenue from overseas students¡¯ fees rose by almost A$1.4 billion, compared?with A$857 million across the other 25 public universities that have so far published their 2024 financial accounts.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com