The six pie charts give information about the ways overseas students registered for online English courses in three nations in 2009 and 2010.
Overall, the pattern of American international students’ booking methods remained stable over the period. In contrast, agent pre-booking became more uncommon while online booking and booking after arrival got more common among Australian international students, whereas the reverse trend was observed among Canadian international students.
Regarding how overseas students in Australia and Canada booked online English courses, the proportion of Canadian students booking on arrival dropped from almost a half to around a fourth, approximately the level of online booking. In contrast, other unspecified methods were chosen more frequently, and pre-booking via an agent became the most common option after a rise to 35%. In Australia, agent pre-booking became the least popular choice after a decline from 27% to 11%. On the contrary, booking on arrival gained marginally in popularity, and internet booking became the most common method in 2010 at a 39% selection rate, almost double that of other unspecified methods.
In regard to American international students’ registration of remote English courses, all four methods were used almost equally in 2009. By the following year, the proportion of students booking online or after arriving remained almost unchanged, each accounting for around 25% of the total figure. In addition, pre-booking via an agent became slightly more popular, while the figure for other unspecified methods reduced marginally.