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City of SydneyCommunity profile

City of Sydney

Education institution attending

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In 2021, 26.3% of the born overseas in the City of Sydney attended an educational institution.

The share of the City of Sydney's overseas-born population attending educational institutions reflects the age structure of the population, the year of migration and the reason for migration. Areas with an older migrant population are likely to have low rates of educational attendance, though there may be some among second and third generations within the community.

Some areas attract a lot of overseas students, and these areas could be expected to have very high rates of educational attendance, particularly for universities.

To complete this story, the City of Sydney's educational attendance information needs to be viewed in conjunction with the Age Structure and Qualification topics.

Please note: In many areas of Australia, at the 2021 Census, numbers of overseas-born university students declined substantially due to university face-to-face closures during the COVID pandemic. This may have changed since the Census, please use with caution.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

'What type of educational institution is the person attending?'

Education institution attending
City of Sydney - born overseas20212016Change
Type of institutionNumber%City of Sydney - Total populationNumber%City of Sydney - Total population2016 to 2021
Attending27,05626.323.232,51432.624.5-5,458
Pre-school2200.21.01310.10.7+89
Primary school8760.92.76310.62.2+245
Secondary school8400.81.91,0091.01.7-169
TAFE/Vocational6,5586.43.94,6484.72.8+1,910
University13,13712.810.820,13120.214.0-6,994
Other5,4255.32.95,9646.03.2-539
Not attending74,89672.869.865,68065.862.6+9,216
Not stated9801.07.01,5671.612.9-587
Total people102,932100.0100.099,761100.0100.0+3,171
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information

Dominant groups

Analysis of the share of the population born overseas attending educational institutions in the City of Sydney in 2021 compared to the total population in the City of Sydney shows that there was a lower proportion attending primary school, a lower proportion attending secondary school, and a higher proportion engaged in tertiary level education.

Overall, 0.9% of the population born overseas were attending primary school, 0.8% were attending secondary institutions, and 19.1% were learning at a tertiary level, compared with 2.7%, 1.9% and 14.8% respectively for the total population in the City of Sydney.

The major differences between the share of the population born overseas attending learning institutions in the City of Sydney and the total population in the City of Sydney were:

  • A larger percentage of people Not attending (72.8% compared to 69.8%)
  • A larger percentage of people TAFE/Vocational (6.4% compared to 3.9%)
  • A larger percentage of people Other (5.3% compared to 2.9%)
  • A smaller percentage of people Not stated (1.0% compared to 7.0%)

Emerging groups

From 2016 to 2021, the population born overseas in the City of Sydney increased by +884 people (0.89%). This represents an average annual change of 0.63% per year over the period.

The largest changes in the number of peopleborn overseas attending education institutions in the City of Sydney, between 2016 and 2021 were:

  • Not attending (+9,216 persons)
  • University (-6,994 persons)
  • TAFE/Vocational (+1,910 persons)
  • Not stated (-587 persons)

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