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Student mobility and motivation: Australia
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26 October 2026
Insights
Capabilities
Conferences
Australia, as one of the 'Big Four' student recruitment markets, is a leading destination for international students, but an increasingly restrictive visa environment threaten overall growth. Student Mobility and Motivation: Australia brings together insights from the QS International Student Survey and QS Global Student Flows to provide a holistic picture of mobility. In the report, discover inbound and outbound trends covering:
- The subjects students want to study, and how this has changed since 2022
- Expectations of students when contacting universities
- The information sources students use
- What drives student decision-making
Get an excerpt of our analysis below, or download the full report.
Australia: Market overview
Hikes in student visa fees, alongside policy changes, represent a significant challenge to Australia’s international student market, with three of the top source markets facing challenges. Student applications from China fell by 25% by the end of 2025, and both India and Nepal are seeing high visa rejection rates.
Inbound demand is expected to remain heavily concentrated in Asia, with China, India and Nepal continuing to anchor the market.
There are growth opportunities in certain South and Southeast Asian markets, but with visa applications rising, Australian institutions must not rely on this region alone. These markets offer practical diversification potential, but will require targeted positioning rather than broad recruitment activity.
Established source markets are expected to soften, underlining the need to avoid overreliance on historic demand. For institutions, the task is to protect share in core markets while building clearer value propositions in growth markets where Australia’s offer can still stand out.
Executive summary
Australia remains one of the world’s most attractive study destinations, but this report points to a recruitment environment where institutions need a sharper understanding of how students make decisions. Destination appeal remains strong: students continue to value Australia’s quality of life, welcome, employability and post-study opportunities. Yet that appeal now sits alongside greater cost sensitivity, policy uncertainty and stronger competition for mobile students.
Recent visa fee increases and tighter approval conditions underline why institutions cannot rely on destination reputation alone: they need to understand which students are still most likely to choose Australia, what concerns may hold them back and what messages can give them confidence to apply.
This report brings together QS Global Student Flows forecasts and International Student Survey insight to support that understanding. It combines market-level projections with student perception data, showing where demand is likely to come from, what Australia-bound students value, where perception gaps exist and how students use different information sources throughout the decision journey.
For institutions, the opportunity is to use this insight to protect share in core markets, identify selective growth opportunities and strengthen conversion. That means making Australia’s value proposition easier to understand, addressing practical concerns around cost and visas with clearer information, and ensuring every student touchpoint reinforces the reasons to choose Australia.
Factors that drive students to Australia
Australia-bound students want many of the qualities that Australia is already strongly perceived to offer. The most important factor when choosing a country is that it’s welcoming to international students, selected by 59% in 2026. Australia’s wider perception profile supports this, with 69% associating the country with a good quality of life, 54% seeing it as environmentally friendly and 49% describing it as attractive. With international students not set to rapidly increase, Australian institutions must leverage this positive perception to encourage new international mobile cohorts.
Australia inbound mobility: Important factors when choosing a country
The challenge is that this positive lifestyle appeal sits alongside clear concerns about cost and access. Affordability remains one of the most important factors in country choice, with 40% citing affordable cost of living and 39% citing affordable cost of studying in 2026. Yet only 18% perceive Australia as affordable, while 35% describe it as expensive. Similarly, while 35% of Australia-bound students say getting a study visa matters and 41% value post-study work access, 29% perceive Australia’s visa process as challenging.
International students’ perception of Australia
This creates a clear messaging task for institutions. Australia is already associated with quality of life, environmental appeal, attractiveness and work opportunities, with 53% perceiving it as offering good work opportunities. These are all qualities students actively value when choosing where to study. The opportunity is to connect these strengths more directly to the decision journey, while addressing perceived barriers around affordability and visas with practical, evidence-led information.
The strongest positioning will bring Australia’s lifestyle, employability and reputation story together. Students are not choosing a destination on one factor alone: they are weighing welcome, quality, cost, work opportunities and long-term value. Institutions that make this trade-off easier to understand are more likely to convert interest into applications.
Affordability remains one of the most important factors in country choice, yet only 18% perceive Australia as affordable cost of living and 39% citing affordable cost of studying in 2026. Yet only 18% perceive Australia as affordable, while 35% describe it as expensive. Similarly, while 35% of Australiabound students say getting a study visa matters and 41% value post-study work access, 29% perceive Australia’s visa process as challenging.
Key questions to consider:
- How clearly are you connecting Australia’s perceived strengths - quality of life, attractiveness, sustainability and work opportunities - to the factors students say matter most?
- Where do you need to address perception gaps around affordability and visa complexity with clearer, more practical information?
- Are you making Australia’s value proposition tangible enough by linking lifestyle, student support, employability and post-study opportunities in one coherent story?
