Students from Australian Universities Studying Abroad: A Demographic Profile

Australia is one of many countries to encourage its students to study abroad and hence develop a global perspective. Traditionally, students who have pursued this option represented a relatively privileged and demographically narrow group. More recently, governments and other agencies have been offering funding support with the aim of "democratising" study abroad so that it is more accessible to all students. To help inform the "democratisation" discussion, this paper presents an analysis of the demographic profile of students from Australian universities who currently study abroad, examining changing trends over time and identifying demographic groups that may be underrepresented in the current Australian study abroad population.