With expensive university fees and a loss of interest in VET colleges since the removal of the likes of hairdressers and cooks from the skills occupation list, students are starting to turn to cheaper ELICOS colleges as a stepping stone into Australia. Perhaps, the high English language threshold required for immigration into Australia is also fuelling the rise of the ELICOS student visa.

Last year, there were 147,828 students in Australia studying English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students or ELICOS, according to a report by Australian Education International (AEI), which is based on survey findings of peak body English Australia (EA).

The EA survey showed that overall ELICOS enrolments in 2013 grew by 19% to 147,828 students from 124,603 in 2012. The figures show that there has been trend over the last three years for  ELICOS students to move away from tourist visas and into student visas. According to EA, last year, some 62 per cent were on student visas, 19 per cent on tourist visas and 15 per cent on working holiday visas.

Victoria is the preferred place for ELICOS students. In 2013, all states showed growth in ELICOS students. Victoria had the strongest growth with 38% followed by Queensland (27%) and Western Australia (21%). South Australia grew by 7% and NSW by 6%.

The ELICOS sector continues to draw its largest numbers of students from the Asia Pacific (64%, a slight increase from 63% in 2012). Students from China were the largest cohort and accounted for 17% of all ELICOS students in 2013. The remaining top ten student nationalities in order were: Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Thailand, Colombia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Italy and Saudi Arabia. All of the top ten countries showed growth in 2013.

Of all ELICOS students in 2013, 41% came from the top three countries, a decline from 44% in 2012. In total 75% came from top ten source countries. Of all visa types, 88% of Chinese students were on a student visa. More than half (51%) of Japanese students were on visitor visa and 45% of South Koreans were on working holiday visa.

The average duration of study in 2013 was 12.9 weeks up from 12.3 weeks in 2012. This increase was seen across all visa types except visitor visas which remained stable at 4.9 weeks. The average duration of study by student visa holders increased to 16.8 weeks, working holiday visas to 8.6 weeks and other visas to 7.6 weeks in 2013.