ELICOS Market Analysis: December 2021

ELICOS commencements fall 57.8% for December 2021 YTD
YTD December ELICOS commencements decreased by 57.8% versus December 2020. Enrolments decreased by 60.6%.

Market performance highlights:

Commencements from China decreased by 48.2%, or 7,272 fewer students versus YTD December 2020. Chinese students made up 27.7% of commencements within ELICOS. 

Commencements from Colombia decreased by 67.6%, or 6,886 students, and commencements from Brazil fell by 72.8%, or 4,596 fewer students. 

YTD December commencements were also down for India (59.8%), South Korea (51.6%) and Japan (54.9%).

Independent ELICOS-only visa lodgements up by 69% YTD
The figures for Independent ELICOS visa applications lodged in December 2021 provide a good reason for optimism. With 1,633 visa applications lodged, December 2021 was up by over 1,000 applications, or 69%, on December 2020. This includes a drop in onshore applications of 81%, but an increase in offshore grants of 395%.

State breakdown
Segmenting the Independent ELICOS visa lodgement data at the state level shows that the national performance has been distributed along proportions consistent with pre-COVID market trends. That is, the largest volumes went to NSW, followed by QLD, then VIC, WA, SA and the ACT, NT and TAS. However, in terms of recovery to December 2019 visa applications, VIC made a better recovery (back to 60% of December 2019 lodgements) than NSW and QLD (44% and 41% respectively), while WA, whose borders remained shut in December 2021, only very slightly improved on the December 2020 figure, and remained down by 70% versus December 2019.

ELICOS market analysis: December 2021

DET Summary Report

DET Detailed Report