Higher education students

Around 356,000 domestic and international students (including offshore students) were enrolled in New South Wales higher education institutions in 2012. 

Management and commerce attracted the highest number of students, with more than 93,000 enrolled in courses including:

• accounting
• management
• marketing 
• banking and finance. 

The state also has a high concentration of students in the society and culture field, which includes economics, law and languages.  

In 2012, around 79,500 students graduated from NSW universities, 41% of whom completed postgraduate degrees.

World class universities

Australia's universities are world class, as demonstrated by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings 2013-14. According to the report, Australia is home to five of the world's top 100 universities, ranking it fifth behind the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany. 

Two New South Wales universities are placed in the world's top 200 academic institutions:

• the University of Sydney (in the top 100 ranked by Shanghai Jiao Tong University's  Academic Ranking of World Universities 2013)
• the University of New South Wales. 

Number of Higher Education Students by State and Broad Field of Education¹, 2012

Broad field of education	NSW		VIC
	No. of students	% of Australia	No. of students	% of Australia
Natural and physical sciences	28,484	28.5%	27,854	27.8%
Information technology	13,921	28.1%	15,621	31.5%
Engineering and related technologies	26,563	28.9%	24,736	26.9%
Management and commerce	93,362	27.9%	95,972	28.7%
Creative arts	20,711	23.9%	19,436	22.5%
Agriculture, environmental and related studies	5,731	30.1%	5,030	26.4%
Architecture and building	8,866	30.1%	7,176	24.3%
Health	46,590	25.1%	38,895	21.0%
Education	34,341	28.7%	24,572	20.6%
Society and culture2	91,688	33.1%	60,877	22.0%
Other3	8,111	31.0%	3,060	11.7%
Total4	355,900	29.9%	309,412	26.0%

Number of Higher Education Students by State and Broad Field of Education¹, 2012 (cont'd)

Broad field of education	QLD		Australia
	No. of students	% of Australia	No. of students
Natural and physical sciences	16,648	16.6%	100,074
Information technology	8,840	17.8%	49,524
Engineering and related technologies	17,031	18.5%	91,962
Management and commerce	53,738	16.1%	334,770
Creative arts	17,744	20.5%	86,547
Agriculture, environmental and related studies	3,419	17.9%	19,068
Architecture and building	5,772	19.6%	29,483
Health	37,205	20.1%	185,509
Education	19,776	16.6%	119,460
Society and culture2	39,064	14.1%	277,032
Other3	8,300	31.7%	26,193
Total4	215,530	18.1%	1,188,524