EDUCATION & TRAINING Industry in Australia
The Education division has experienced some changes over the past five years. Enrolment in private schools outpaced government schools for much of the period and strong performances by English schools (otherwise known as English Intensive Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students, or ELICOS) and tutoring businesses have supported expansion of the Language and Other Education industry. Tutoring businesses have offered new services to expand their market base, as have universities. Online education is a major development for the Education division, and technology is permeating all areas of education.
Australia is well regarded for providing high-quality international education, attracting thousands of students from around the world, being able to develop a large-scale, extremely competitive education industry. Over the past decades, Australia has emerged as one of the top five providers of international education services, after the US, the UK, Germany and France. Each year the country attracts more than 450,000 students from about 200 countries. Education is Australia’s second largest services export sector, behind tourism, and became the third largest export overall, contributing $17.2 billion in export income to the economy in 2008-09, an increase of 23.2 percent from the previous financial year.
The training industry in Australia is also robust and, at present, stands at an estimated A$1.7 billion, of which one-third is devoted to behavioral and soft skills training. A significant proportion – 600 million – is dedicated entirely to IT training.
TRENDS
Growth of Online Education: Online Education has advanced significantly over the past five years. Supporting this growth is the uptake of broadband Internet services, technological developments, growing acceptance of education delivered via the Internet, and a new approach to distance education.
Rapid Growth of Branch Campuses: A rapidly growing number of universities across the world are establishing branch campuses in other countries. In fact, the number has almost doubled to 162 in the past three years alone and has jumped eight-fold since 2002. Although the US continues to dominate with its offshore campuses scattered around the globe, more countries have become involved as hosts and providers. The US is followed by Australia with 14 campuses, 9% of the total number.
Australia’s International Student Market Will Continue to be dominated by a Small Number of Markets: Four markets will represent 61% of all international student enrollments in Australian higher education by 2025.
KEY FORECASTS
The Australian university system has the appetite and capacity to provide 268,156 international student places on campus in Australia by 2025. Demand will exceed supply in 2020, and by 2025 there will be a shortfall of 22,692 international places on projected demand of 290.848.
Some of the biggest market opportunities for the export of Australian training services will be in underserved markets of English-speaking nations-- primarily India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
Recent developments in the international education industry are notable in three respects. First, international student mobility has more than doubled in the last two decades or so. Second, program mobility encompassing distance education has also led to new forms of cross-border education. Third, institution mobility through such commercial deals as franchises and twinning arrangements are becoming an increasingly important feature of cross-border education, although on a limited scale. Such developments are leading to the emergence of a new market place for the international education industry.
MARKET SIZE
Education is Australia’s second largest services export sector, behind tourism, and became the third largest export overall, contributing $17.2 billion in export income to the economy in 2008-09, an increase of 23.2 percent from the previous financial year.
Key industry figures for the overall Education market in Australia (2009):
Key Industry Figures | 2009 |
Industry Revenue | 78,680.6 $ million |
Revenue Growth | 3.5% |
Industry Gross Product | 50,580.4 $ million |
Number of Establishments | 30,591 Units |
Number of Enterprises | 27,622 Units |
Employment | 804,547.9 People |
Exports | 7,602.9 $ million |
Imports | -- |
Total Wages | 43,785.3 $ million |
Key industry figures for the Online Education market in Australia (2009):
Key Industry Figures | 2009 |
Industry Revenue | 2,848.4 $ million |
Revenue Growth | 38% |
Industry Gross Product | 1,390 $ million |
Number of Establishments | 764 Units |
Number of Enterprises | 764 Units |
Employment | 13,445 People |
Exports | -- |
Imports | -- |
Total Wages | 962.8 $ million |
KEY PLAYERS in online education
Open Universities Australia
Kaplan Professional
Cengage
SEEK Learning
Other Universities and institutions in Australia.
GROWTH FIGURES AND FDI FIGURES
Global demand for international higher education will grow from 2.173 million in 2005 to 3.720 million in 2025. This is a growth of 71% over 20 years or compound growth of 2.7% per year. Demand for Australian international higher education will grow from 163,345 in 2005 to 290,848 in 2025.
Online Education is estimated to grow by 25.1% per annum over the past five years from $1.15 billion in 2004-05 to $3.54 billion in 2009-10.
Stock of Foreign Direct Investment in Australia by Industry
Industry | $ million | % share of total |
Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 700 | 0.2 |
Mining | 99,659 | 25.4 |
Manufacturing | 73,848 | 18.8 |
Electricity, gas and water | 16,105 | 4.1 |
Construction | 13,037 | 3.3 |
Wholesale and retail trade | 57,093 | 14.5 |
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants | 914 | 0.2 |
Transport and communication | 25,929 | 6.6 |
Finance and insurance | 53,143 | 13.5 |
Property and business services | 33,830 | 8.6 |
Other services | 6,105 | 1.6 |
Unallocated | 12,500 | 3.2 |
Total | 392,862 | 100 |
INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
International Education
Distance, online learning, educational software
Commercial partnerships – twinning arrangements, content licensing, franchising, research collaborations, offshore campus setup etc.
Increased spending on training, a strong rupee, extraordinary growth and emerging skills shortage in the Indian economy is providing a number of opportunities for Australian training companies in India and similarly other BRICS countries like China. There are opportunities in the soft skills area across all industries, but in particular there are skills shortages in: Financial services (Banking and finance, Insurance, Wealth management), Retail, Biotechnology, Education, Healthcare and Pharma, Chemicals (Plastics, Glass, Paper and textiles) and Infrastructure (Environment, Oil and gas, Engineering, Renewable energy, Mining).
RESOURCES: INDUSTRY GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Australian Human Resources Institute – http://www.ahri.com.au
Australian Institute for Training and Development http://www.aitd.com.au
The International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) –http://www.ieaa.org.au
Department of Education and Training
Current Investment Opportunities in Australia:
For current investment opportunities in Australia, please click here : http://investinaustralia.com/current-opportunities
REFERENCES
- Editors, “Education in Australia”, IbisWorld, Oct. 2010, http://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry/default.aspx?indid=590.
- Polat, Cemen, “Recognition of Turkish Schools in Australia”, 2010, Today’s Zaman, http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-219685-advancing-in-education-in-an-advanced-democracy-success-and-recognition-of-turkish-schools-in-australia-by-cemen-polat.html.
- Unknown, “Corporate training to India”, Australian Government, 2009, http://www.austrade.gov.au/Corporate-training-to-India/default.aspx.
- Editors, “Online Education in Australia”, IbisWorld, 2010, http://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry/default.aspx?indid=1907.
- Unknown, “Corporate training to India”, Australian Government, 2009, http://www.austrade.gov.au/Corporate-training-to-India/default.aspx.
- Unknown, “Global Student Mobility: An Australian Perspective Five Years On”, IDP Research, Oct. 2007, http://www.idp.com/pdf/GSM_Brochure_Oct07.pdf.
- Unknown, “Global Student Mobility: An Australian Perspective Five Years On”, IDP Research, Oct. 2007, http://www.idp.com/pdf/GSM_Brochure_Oct07.pdf.
- Unknown, “Opportunities in Corporate Training – South Asia”, Australian Government, 2009, http://www.austrade.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/1418/South-Asia-Training-2009-Austrade-Presentation.pdf.aspx.
- Naidoo, Vikash, “International education: A tertiary-level industry update”, Jounral of Research in International Education, December 2006, http://jri.sagepub.com/content/5/3/323.full.pdf+html.
- Polat, Cemen, “Recognition of Turkish Schools in Australia”, 2010, Today’s Zaman, http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-219685-advancing-in-education-in-an-advanced-democracy-success-and-recognition-of-turkish-schools-in-australia-by-cemen-polat.html.
- Editors, “Education in Australia”, IbisWorld, 2010, http://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry/default.aspx?indid=590.
- Editors, “Online Education in Australia”, IbisWorld, 2010, http://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry/default.aspx?indid=1907.
- Unknown, “Global Student Mobility: An Australian Perspective Five Years On”, IDP Research, Oct. 2007, http://www.idp.com/pdf/GSM_Brochure_Oct07.pdf.
- Maslen, Jeff, “GLOBAL: Huge expansion in overseas campues”, Nov. 2009, http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20091120103411843&mode=print.
