THE international education market took a 10 per cent hit last year according to final government figures, with 557,000 full-fee paying enrolments. The decline follows a similar drop in 2010.

Commencements were down by nearly 9 per cent with the overall drop following a similar slump in 2010.

However declines were not across the board. While the English teaching and vocational education sectors were down 16 per cent universities escaped unscathed with a marginal increase in demand.

In 2011 some 242,000 international students were enrolled at Australian universities. China continued to account for the greatest proportion of university enrolments with 40 per cent. Malaysia, with 7 per cent was a distant second. With 51 per cent of enrolments management was the most popular discipline.

India had the largest share of overall enrolments (32 per cent) and commencements (27per cent) in the training sector.

The bad news for higher education was in the fee-paying course work postgraduate segment where commencements dropped by 9 per cent.

The largest decline in overall commencements came from India, down 26 per cent last year.

This is widely attributed to tighter visa applications for aspiring VET students and media coverage of violence against Indian students.

However the high dollar appears more important in all markets. A survey for Australian Education International by Christopher Lawson last year found Indian students rated tuition cost as the most important factor in selecting a study destination with safety fifth out of eight factors.

This is in line with the priorities of students from other country markets.

“The three most important factors in deciding where to study are the quality of education, the cost of tuition and the cost of living. Australia is perceived to be a provider of quality education, but the current high value of the Australian dollar impacts on both the cost of tuition and the cost of living in Australia relative to competitor countries,” Lawson concluded.