Domestic enrolments grew by just under 2% (18,742 headcount) between 2024 and 2025 – getting closer to the 2021 COVID peak, with a modest increase in commencing students.
In contrast, international student numbers grew by 10% in the year, according to new national 2025 student data released by the Department of Education yesterday, despite international commencements being held to 1% growth – due to strong retention and the pipeline effect of growth in previous years.
International student enrolments grew 47% between 2021 and 2025.
Enabling programs rise
Strong government support for fee free uniready enabling programs to attract underrepresented cohorts and life long learners into study no doubt contributed to a 10% rise in participation to 18,353 participants in 2025, although this remains well below the 202 peak of 25,641 enrolments and follows similar growth the previous two years, prior to the introduction of the fee free program.
While growth has not been spectacular, Fee-Free uni ready is attracting most under-represented cohorts at around twice the rate of undergraduate participation – for example more than 50% of prep course participants are Low SES or Regional and Remote, compared to under 30% of undergraduates.
The proportion of underrepresented cohorts in UG degrees is also rising. Students from low SES areas are more likely to study teaching or nursing, while for First Nations students, positivity over a small increase in commencements was tempered by ongoing rates of attrition higher than other cohorts.
School leavers up, mature age plummets
School leavers represent an increasing proportion of domestic UG commencements, clocking in at 49.9% of the 2025 commencing student intake, up from 43% in 2021. 44% of school leavers commenced their degree straight after finishing Year 12 in 2024.
At the same time, mature age students have dropped from 63,413 or 22% of commencing undergraduates in 2020 to just 27,822, or 10% of UG commencers in 2025. Lifelong learning is clearly not a raging success at this point.
Some love for JRG
Is JRG working? The pricing policy which Mr Clare has kept for more than four years as Education Minister was not named as a factor, but the Department noted that commencements in areas of national priority continued to rise.
This included a 54.5% increase in IT commencers between 2016 and 2025 to 19,072, despite a 13% drop on the 2024 total; a 10% increase in teachers, a 446.2% increase in Food and hospo services (every Australian loves a café) and a 27.5% decline in Creative Arts commencers (likewise reflecting Australia’s cultural preferences).
The report noted a sudden drop in IT demand and questioned whether the emergence of AI and publicity about slumping demand for IT graduates may be responsible. Given the publicity about slumping demand for accounting graduates, journalists, graphic design students and a bunch of other occupations it seems safe to say a little more research may be required to actually ask students what is driving their preferences.
Ups and downs
Unsurprisingly after a welter of negative headlines, ANU enrolments were down in 2025, as were numbers at UTAS, Swinburne, Murdoch, Torrens and the University of Melbourne (although at 74,724 enrolments the UoM decline may have been by design).
Big movers locking in growth included Monash rising from 93,160 to 104,505 and UNSW rising by around 4,000 to 86,292.
The good news
There is good news on the horizon. Charting recent birth rates, the report indicates there will be a fairly consistent trend of increasing numbers of 18 year old Australians until 2034, after which numbers decline.
Attrition has fallen to the lowest rate and success rates rising to the highest level in 10 years, with 10.7% of domestic Bachelor degree students quitting in 2024 and 88.6% succeeding.
This was attributed to targeted initiatives to reduce attrition and better target support, availability of alternate pathways and changes in commencing student demographics.