Study Abroad in Australia: ELICOS Sector Improving Growth for Australian Students for the Year 2022

English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) sector has grown by 90%. As per the trend in the year 2022. ELICOS Sector is leading growth for Australia in the year 2022. As observed there was a 155% increase in commencements.

Also, nearly 8 in 10 commencements come from the top ten sending markets. Columbia, Brazil and Thailand drives the overall growth in Australia. ELICOS sector commencements helped recovering approximately 63% of pre-pandemic volumes.

6,19,371 overseas students enrolled in Australia as per the trend of 2022. As compared to the year 2021, an over-growth of 8% in all the sectors noticed. It was observed with respect to holding flat or losing ground. Including higher education (down -1%), the school’s sector (-9%) and VET (-3%).  Moreover, this also reflects the limited growth of Australia’s top sending markets as per the trend of last year. Notably, India (+1%) and China (-9%) both of these have been important indicators of VET numbers and higher education. Furthermore, there is a huge gain in visa lodgements, commencements and visas granted. 

In all, commencements in the ELICOS sector surged by 155.4% from the previous year. The source of that growth, with Colombia, Thailand, and Brazil being the top sending markets, is equally impressive. In 2022, Colombia was the top source market for ELICOS. And the country ended the year with 12,700 commencements. Or roughly one in every five beginning students and a 287% increase from 2021.

Growth Representation in ELICOS Sector

In 2022, just over 10,400 new Thai students began their ELICOS studies. This made Thailand the second-largest sending market (representing 14% of all commencements for the year). This represents an astounding increase of 977% from the previous year. 

China achieved the third-best sender ranking for 2022 with its 9,599 commencements, but with substantially greater growth of 16%. Six in ten of all ELICOS commencements, including Brazil and Japan, were in the top five markets. Eight out of every ten new students for the year came from the top ten senders. 

According to data from the Department of Education, there were 79,362 students enrolled in ELICOS programmes. And as per the trend in 2022 as opposed to 41,850 the year before. 

In addition, we can see that ELICOS sector awards were nearly 13.5 times greater in 2022. Almost 45,323 more grants compared to 2021 since those figures only include students with study permits. With 56,492 total applications submitted, visa lodgements for the ELICOS study were approximately nine times more than the previous year. 

Continued Processing of Student Visas for Education Purpose

The overall number of commencements has now rebounded to 63% of pre-pandemic (2019) volumes with spectacular growth projected for 2022. Unnecessary to say, this is a very significant and positive development. Not just for the industry but also for the revival of international enrollment in Australia. According to Department of Education statistics, nearly half (47%) of all ELICOS students with student visas continue their education in the nation. 

In a linked report from English Australia, the significance of those channels and the toll the pandemic that took on foreign education in Australia are strikingly depicted.

According to the research, the sector’s direct economic contribution fell from AUS$ 2.36 billion in 2019 to AUS$ 438 million in 2021. Also, there was a decrease of over AUSS1.9 billion (or -82%). Furthermore, given the significant proportion of ELICOS sector students who continue their education in Australia, the report also calculates the economic effect. It was seen that there was a total loss of AUS$ 4.6 billion for students who missed future enrolments at AUS$ 2.7 billion.

Additionally, these figures highlight the significance of the ELICOS sector commencements rebound this year. This was done both in terms of total volume and in the more varied mix of sending markets that we expect to emerge through 2022.

Follow  Leverage Edu News Updates for the latest information about study abroad programs.