ELICOS commencements decrease 33.0 per cent in August 2020 YTD
August 2020 marked yet another fall in commencements for the ELICOS sector, dropping from July’s YTD figure of 30.0% to a record 33.0% by August 2020 YTD. The overall decrease in ELICOS students is likely to be much higher given these numbers omit non-student visas, visas that make-up around 30% of total ELICOS students.
The impact of these falls has been felt by all states and territories with Tasmania and the ACT the most affected in percentage terms (53.6% and 54.3% decreases respectively).
7 out of 10 of Australia’s top-10 source countries have now declined by more than 30%
With Australia’s top-10 source countries accounting for almost 75% of ELICOS commencements, the impact of COVID-19 has been enormous. Only Colombia (-12.1%), Spain (-16.8%) and Nepal (-12.3%) recorded decreases lower than 30%. Meanwhile, two of Australia’s largest source markets, China and Japan, dropped more than 40% by August 2020 YTD.
Total visa grants across all sectors down by over 100,000
The impact of COVID-19 has been felt across all sectors of international education. The industry has now seen 100,000 fewer visa grants in 2020 compared with 2019. Setting aside the losses in social, cultural and skilled workforce benefits from international education, the economic impact of this decline is vast.
ELICOS market analysis: August 2020
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