The table illustrates how many students, both domestic and international, participated in research fields in Australian universities while the pie graphs demonstrate the percentage of students regarding their gender in two different years, 2001 and 2010.
Overall, there was an increase in the total number of research students because more learners, from the host country itself and other nations as well, enrolled in this program. In addition, despite a moderate decline over time, Australian students still accounted for the majority, with a slightly higher proportion of male participants in both years.
Taking a closer look at the table, the total quantity of research students experienced an upward trend, starting at 38,849 in 2001, which later rose by more than 5,000 to reach 54,081 in 2010. Similar changes were witnessed in the figures for local and international research scholars, standing at 33,657 and 5,192 in 2001, after which they went up by approximately 6,000 and 9,400 respectively 9 years later.
Turning to the pie charts, in 2001, 87% of students were native, with the percentage of women and men almost equal, only 1% difference. Meanwhile, the share of non-local learners was only 13%, with only one-third were female. After a 9-year course, a decrease of 14% was seen in the proportion of locals enrolled in research programs in universities, with 8% less women and 6% less men. Conversely, the figures for female international students considerably increased, almost fourfolded to reach 15%, 3% higher than its male counterpart.