The provided charts illustrate the participation of local and international students in research fields at Australian universities in 2001 and 2010, along with a breakdown of research students by gender over the same period.
Overall, there was a notable increase in the number of students pursuing research between 2001 and 2010. What also stands out from the chart is that local students showed a particularly strong interest in research, outnumbering their international counterparts in both years. Additionally, local male students dominated the major in both periods.
In 2001, approximately 34,000 Australian students engaged in research, nearly seven times the figure for their international counterparts. For the following 10 years, the number of local students grew modestly to roughly 40,000 students. Even though a threefold increase to around 15000 international students was recorded in the participation in research majors, this figure was far lower than that of local students in 2010.
Turning to gender distribution, the proportion of male and female local students in research fields was relatively balanced in 2001, at 44% and 43% respectively. Among international students, however, there was a notable gender disparity, with only 9% male and 4% female. By 2010, the gender gap among local students had widened slightly, with males accounting for 38% compared to 35% of females. A similar gap of 3% could also be seen in the percentage of international students choosing research fields. However, among these students, the proportion of females, at 15%, surpassed that of males, standing at 13%, indicating a shifting trend over a decade.