The Australian Financial Review | 8 October 2012
More Australian university students than ever are studying overseas, benefiting from increased funding by the institutions and the Commonwealth government’s OS-HELP load program. The number of students who studied overseas totalled 8.1% of the number of those who completed courses last year, the highest figure yet for travel by Australian university students. A study by researcher Alan Olsen for Universities Australia found that 32.7% of the Australian university students who studied overseas last year did so in Asia.
Australian students’ travel is dominated by undergraduates, with 12.3% studying overseas last year, which compares well with the US undergraduates of whom 14% studies overseas in 2009-10. The study also found that Australian universities were stepping up funding for students to study overseas, with an overall increase to $28.2 million in 2011, up from $16.6 million in 2007. The OS-Help loan program was also a major source of support with $25.3 million supplied in 2011 compared with $8.6 million in 2007.
