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Several years ago I posted a graph showing the number of overseas students from several Asian countries (see “Uni students from China“). It was quite shocking because it showed the huge and continued growth of students from China compared to the relatively small and flat levels of students from other Asian countries. That graph showed the levels from 2002 to 2007, and here it is again:

But, how has that picture changed since?

Here is a graph I put together with recent data from Australia Education International (AEI) showing what has happened since then (click for a larger graph):

You don’t need to know anything about stats to see that the China line has only shot up even higher, while all the other lines have remain flat. In March of this year, AEI recorded 80,700 higher education students from China – almost double what we saw back in the 2008 post (where China was at 48,695)!

You might also remember that the last ABS census held in August 2006 – and we are due for another census in August of this year. But even now you can tell that once the data is released, the figures for Chinese students will have almost doubled!

For those who want the actual numbers, here they are:

All this means that those doing university ministries increasingly cannot ignore Chinese ministry. And those wanting to reach the Chinese have to work harder to reach the increasing number of students that come to Australia each year…