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Number of Students Studying Online

Distance Education Rankings by Student Numbers

Online learning provides a great deal of convenience for learners who would like to further their education but who prefer an off-campus to an on-campus setting. As a result, an increasing number of Australian universities are offering online courses, which are being taking advantage of by a large number of students.

Click here for a brief summary of which university has the most online students.

In terms of distance education student numbers, Charles Sturt University (CSU) has the highest number of online students at around 22,000 students. A slightly distant second is the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) with around 17,000 online students. Third on the list is University of New England (UNE) with around 16,000 distance education students.

Postgraduate students apparently have a greater preference for distance education, likely because of existing work and other commitments. At the postgraduate level, the same three universities stand out when considering the percentage of online students. It is significant that the top three universities for online postgraduate student numbers all have over 80% of their postgraduate students studying via this mode. UNE, USQ, and CSU all have well-developed graduate schools operating to a great extent as primarily distance education providers.

NOTE: Click the column headers to sort the table

Table 1: Distance Education Student Numbers
University ug pg total
Charles Sturt University (csu) 13842 9125 22967
University of Southern Queensland (usq) 11356 5928 17284
University of New England (une) 10126 5674 15800
Deakin University (deakin) 5041 7298 12339
CQ University (cqu) 7274 1698 8972
Swinburne University of Technology (swinburne) 6895 814 7709
Curtin University (curtin) 4504 2429 6933
University of Tasmania (utas) 4035 2075 6110
University of South Australia (unisa) 3184 2747 5931
Monash University (monash) 1726 4130 5856
Charles Darwin University (cdu) 3975 1507 5482
Southern Cross University (scu) 3810 1245 5055
Edith Cowan University (ecu) 2765 2066 4831
University of Newcastle (newcastle) 638 4052 4690
Queensland University of Technology (qut) 911 2695 3606
Macquarie University (mq) 1772 1506 3278
Murdoch University (murdoch) 1958 1261 3219
Flinders University (flinders) 238 2957 3195
Griffith University (griffith) 596 1808 2404
University of New South Wales (unsw) 41 1955 1996
Australian Catholic University (acu) 631 1272 1903
James Cook University (jcu) 744 1009 1753
University of Sydney (sydney) 89 1504 1593
University of Queensland (uq) 308 1278 1586
La Trobe University (latrobe) 315 1127 1442
University of Wollongong (uow) 5 1204 1209
University of Western Sydney (uws) 452 632 1084
RMIT University (rmit) 133 912 1045
University of Melbourne (unimelb) 11 703 714
University of Technology Sydney (uts) 188 440 628
University of Adelaide (adelaide) 8 419 427
Australian National University (anu) 0 315 315
Victoria University (vu) 279 23 302
University of the Sunshine Coast (usc) 0 99 99
University of Western Australia (uwa) 0 84 84
Federation University (feduni) 47 34 81
University of Notre Dame (nd) 13 9 22
University of Canberra (canberra) 0 0 0
Bond University (bond) 0 0 0
Totals: 93346 82324 175670

NOTE: Click the column headers to sort the table

Table 2: Percentage Breakdown of Online Student Numbers
University ug% pg% total%
University of New England (une) 75 88.1 79.2
University of Southern Queensland (usq) 66.2 86.6 72
Charles Darwin University (cdu) 58.9 66.4 60.8
Charles Sturt University (csu) 51.7 81.8 60.5
CQ University (cqu) 59.2 37.2 53.3
Southern Cross University (scu) 34.9 55.2 38.4
Deakin University (deakin) 15.6 55.9 27.2
Swinburne University of Technology (swinburne) 27.6 12.9 24.7
University of Tasmania (utas) 19.7 38.1 23.5
Edith Cowan University (ecu) 14.4 34.5 19.2
University of South Australia (unisa) 13 36.8 18.6
Curtin University (curtin) 12.3 24.3 14.9
Flinders University (flinders) 1.7 35.1 14.5
University of Newcastle (newcastle) 2.7 44.4 14.2
Totals Average (mean) (%) 10.1 23.7 13.8
Murdoch University (murdoch) 10 31.9 13.7
Monash University (monash) 3.7 23.4 9.2
Macquarie University (mq) 6.7 13.3 8.7
James Cook University (jcu) 4.8 19.2 8.4
Queensland University of Technology (qut) 2.7 25.4 8.1
Australian Catholic University (acu) 3.2 23.4 7.6
Griffith University (griffith) 1.8 20.7 5.8
La Trobe University (latrobe) 1.2 14.2 4.3
University of Wollongong (uow) 0 13.7 4.1
University of New South Wales (unsw) 0.1 10.4 3.9
University of Queensland (uq) 0.9 10.2 3.3
University of Sydney (sydney) 0.3 7.4 3
University of Western Sydney (uws) 1.3 9.3 2.6
RMIT University (rmit) 0.3 8 1.8
University of Technology Sydney (uts) 0.8 3.5 1.7
University of Adelaide (adelaide) 0 5.8 1.7
Australian National University (anu) 0 3 1.5
University of Melbourne (unimelb) 0 2.6 1.4
Victoria University (vu) 1.3 0.5 1.1
University of the Sunshine Coast (usc) 0 7.9 1.1
Federation University (feduni) 0.6 0.8 0.7
University of Western Australia (uwa) 0 1.5 0.3
University of Notre Dame (nd) 0.1 0.7 0.2
University of Canberra (canberra) 0 0 0
Bond University (bond) 0 0 0

Key & Notes

* Total Percentages: – total percentages excludes students not enrolled in either undergraduate or postgraduate programs


You might also be interested in the following pages:

Total Student Numbers

Undergraduate & Postgraduate Percentages

Gender Balance Male-Female Ratio


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