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Live in Brisbane

Universities in Brisbane

Every TEQSA-registered university with a campus in Greater Brisbane, and how international education here has actually changed — enrolments, source countries, fields of study and economic contribution. These figures are for Greater Brisbane (an ABS SA4 region), not a specific suburb — a deliberate exception to how the rest of this site is organised.

Enrolments, 2025
99,428
+0.1% on 2024
All sectors — Higher Ed, VET, Schools, ELICOS, Non-Award
Value added, 2025
$3.16bn
+2.6% on 2024
IET sector contribution to the Brisbane economy
Jobs supported, 2025
15,970 FTE
-1.4% on 2024
CRICOS providers
216
Registered to enrol international students in Brisbane, 2025

Brisbane accounted for 69% of Queensland’s total IET export revenue in both 2023 and 2025 — consistently the largest of Queensland’s international-education regions.

Universities & campuses

TEQSA National Register

Every TEQSA-registered university running at least one campus in Greater Brisbane — head office, registration detail, and every active local campus. Verified against the TEQSA National Register and each university's own site, not third-party lists.

Map
Every active Brisbane-area campus below · map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors

Queensland University of Technology

Headquartered in Brisbane
TEQSA:
Australian University (PRV12079)
CRICOS:
00213J
QILT:
Compare on ComparED

TEQSA-registered Australian University headquartered in Brisbane. QUT's former Caboolture campus was transferred to the University of the Sunshine Coast in January 2018 and is no longer a QUT site — see UniSC Moreton Bay below.

  • Gardens Point· Brisbane City— Business, Law, and Science and Engineering
  • Kelvin Grove· Kelvin Grove— Health, Creative Industries and Education

The University of Queensland

Headquartered in Brisbane
TEQSA:
Australian University (PRV12080)
CRICOS:
00025B
QILT:
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TEQSA-registered Australian University headquartered in Brisbane.

  • Dutton Park (PACE)· Dutton Park— Pharmacy and biotechnology teaching and research
  • Herston· Herston— Health sciences and medicine, adjoining the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital
  • St Lucia· St Lucia— Main campus — all faculties

Australian Catholic University

Headquartered in North Sydney NSW 2060
TEQSA:
Australian University (PRV12008)
CRICOS:
00004G
QILT:
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Head office is in North Sydney — included here for its Brisbane campus.

  • Banyo (McAuley at Banyo)· Banyo— ACU's only Queensland campus — general

CQUniversity Australia

Headquartered in Rockhampton QLD 4701
TEQSA:
Australian University (PRV12073)
CRICOS:
00219C
QILT:
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Head office is in Rockhampton — included here for its Brisbane CBD campus.

  • Brisbane· Brisbane City— General

Griffith University

Headquartered in Southport QLD 4222 (Gold Coast)
TEQSA:
Australian University (PRV12076)
CRICOS:
00233E
QILT:
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Head office is on the Gold Coast, not Brisbane — included here for its two active Brisbane teaching campuses. Griffith's former Mt Gravatt campus no longer runs teaching (its sports facilities remain open); a new CBD campus in the Treasury Building is planned to open in 2027 and is not yet operating.

  • Brisbane CBD (Treasury Building)· Brisbane City— Planned Business, Law and IT campusUpcoming
  • Nathan (Brisbane South)· Nathan— Griffith's founding campus — general
  • South Bank (Brisbane City)· South Brisbane— Queensland College of Art and Design, Griffith Film School, Queensland Conservatorium

James Cook University

Headquartered in Townsville QLD 4811
TEQSA:
Australian University (PRV12077)
CRICOS:
00117J
QILT:
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Head office is in Townsville. JCU Brisbane is delivered under a long-standing management agreement with Russo Higher Education Pty Ltd (part of the Sarina Russo Group), not run directly by JCU staff — worth stating plainly rather than presenting it as an ordinary JCU-run campus.

  • Brisbane· Brisbane City— Business and Information Technology, including foundation/diploma pathway programs

Torrens University Australia

Headquartered in Adelaide SA 5000
TEQSA:
Australian University (PRV12209)
CRICOS:
03389E
QILT:
Compare on ComparED

Head office is in Adelaide — included here for its Brisbane campus. Torrens is a private Australian University (part of the Global University Systems / Laureate lineage), distinct from the public universities on this list.

  • Fortitude Valley· Fortitude Valley— Business, Health, and Design and Technology

University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ)

Headquartered in Toowoomba QLD 4350
TEQSA:
Australian University (PRV12081)
CRICOS:
00244B
QILT:
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Head office is in Toowoomba, outside Greater Brisbane — included here for its Springfield and Ipswich campuses, both within the Greater Brisbane area.

  • Ipswich· Ipswich— General
  • Springfield· Springfield Central— General

University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC)

Headquartered in Sippy Downs QLD 4556
TEQSA:
Australian University (PRV12082)
CRICOS:
01595D
QILT:
Compare on ComparED

Head office is at Sippy Downs on the Sunshine Coast — included here for its Moreton Bay campus, within the Greater Brisbane area. UniSC took over the former QUT Caboolture site in 2018 and later built the current Petrie campus alongside it.

  • Moreton Bay· Petrie— General

Deciding where to live around one of these? See suburbs near each campus, with transit access and rent, one page per campus.

After trade or vocational training instead? See TAFE Queensland and Brisbane’s private RTOs.

Arriving as an international student? Do international students get transport concessions in Brisbane?

Enrolment trend over time

Study Queensland Brisbane Factsheet

International student enrolments in Brisbane by sector, 2022–2025. Higher Education has been the largest and fastest-growing sector across this period.

Higher Education
202220232025

Higher Education went from 34,515 in 2022 to 45,546 in 2025, a change of +32%.

Show the data table
YearHigher Education
202234,515
202340,754
202441,203
202545,546

The 2023 figure was extrapolated by Deloitte Access Economics from October year-to-date data, not a full December count — treat it as indicative rather than exact.

The Dept. of Education SA4 enrolment series has historically excluded a share of enrolments with no reported region — around 6% of Queensland’s total in the 2024 data release, narrowing to around 1% in the 2025 release.

Top source countries

Study Queensland Brisbane Factsheet

Brisbane's largest international-student source countries by enrolment share, 2025. Arrows show the change in share since 2024.

China21,632 2pt
India14,854 2pt
Colombia6,762 2pt
Philippines6,464 1pt
Brazil4,275 1pt
Show the data table
CountryEnrolmentsShare
China21,63222%
India14,85415%
Colombia6,7627%
Philippines6,4647%
Brazil4,2754%

2025. Study Queensland Brisbane Factsheet.

Curious where people from these countries tend to live in Brisbane? Macgregor (Qld) has Brisbane’s highest share of China-born residents (17.1%); Pallara - Willawong has Brisbane’s highest share of India-born residents (13.2%).

Fields of study

Study Queensland Brisbane Factsheet

Top broad fields of education among Brisbane's international students, 2025.

Management and Commerce28,022
Other26,909
Society and Culture22,038
Information Technology8,363
Engineering and Related Technologies6,891
Mixed Field Programmes7,205
Show the data table
FieldEnrolmentsShareCommencements
Management and Commerce28,02228%12,897
Other26,90927%12,132
Society and Culture22,03822%13,121
Information Technology8,3638%3,426
Engineering and Related Technologies6,8917%2,876
Mixed Field Programmes7,2057%3,279

2025. Study Queensland Brisbane Factsheet.

Economic contribution

Study Queensland Brisbane Factsheet

Value added and jobs supported by the international education and training (IET) sector in Brisbane, from Deloitte Access Economics' modelling for Study Queensland.

Direct employment by industry, 2025

Accommodation34%
Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services19%
Education and training11%
Retail trade10%
Road transport and transport equipment rental8%
Clubs, pubs, taverns and bars5%
Other sports and recreation services3%
Cultural services2%
Air, water and other transport2%
Casinos and other gambling services1%
Rail transport1%
All other industries5%
Show the data table (2019–2025)
YearExport revenueValue added (GVA)Jobs supportedCRICOS providers
2019$3.90bn———
2020$3.47bn———
2021$2.75bn———
2022$2.99bn——217
2023$4.70bn$3.23bn18,556 FTE220
2024$4.73bn$3.08bn16,195 FTE225
2025$4.73bn$3.16bn15,970 FTE216

Export revenue and value added (GVA) are separate metrics derived differently and should not be summed or compared directly — see the methodology note below.

Methodology & data vintage

Universities & campuses. Sourced from the TEQSA National Register (provider registration, CRICOS code, head office) and each university’s own official campus page — never a third-party study-abroad or ranking site. Verified September 2026; TEQSA registrations and campus footprints can change at any time.

Enrolments, source countries, fields of study and economic contribution. From Study Queensland / Trade and Investment Queensland’s Brisbane Factsheet, prepared by Deloitte Access Economics from Australian Government Department of Education enrolment data, ABS export-revenue data and Tourism Research Australia expenditure data. Current edition: 2025 (covers 2024 & 2025), published July 2026; earlier years are folded in from the 2023 edition (published September 2024).

Export revenue and value added (GVA) are different, non-summable measures — export revenue is where students spend their money, value added is where that economic activity actually occurs, and the two should never be added together or presented as interchangeable. Figures here are annual-factsheet totals only; quarterly Snapshot figures use a different (rolling year-to-date) calculation and aren’t mixed in.

University registration data © Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). Enrolment, source-country, field-of-study and economic-contribution figures © State of Queensland (Trade and Investment Queensland / Study Queensland), prepared by Deloitte Access Economics from Australian Government Department of Education, ABS and Tourism Research Australia data. Regional Factsheets.

Studying in Brisbane — common questions

How many universities are in Brisbane?
Two universities are headquartered in Brisbane and TEQSA-registered as Australian Universities: the University of Queensland (St Lucia) and Queensland University of Technology (Gardens Point/Kelvin Grove). A further seven universities headquartered elsewhere — Griffith, Australian Catholic University, CQUniversity, James Cook University, University of the Sunshine Coast, Torrens University and University of Southern Queensland — also run at least one campus within Greater Brisbane.
How many international students study in Brisbane?
99,428 international students were enrolled in Brisbane in 2025, across Higher Education, VET, Schools, ELICOS and Non-Award courses — roughly unchanged (+0.1%) on 2024, according to Study Queensland's Brisbane Factsheet 2025.
Which countries do Brisbane's international students come from?
China and India are consistently the two largest source countries, together accounting for 37% of Brisbane's international student enrolments in 2025. Colombia, the Philippines and Brazil round out the top five, together making up 54% of all enrolments that year.
How much is international education worth to Brisbane's economy?
The international education and training (IET) sector contributed $3.16 billion in value added and supported 15,970 full-time-equivalent jobs in Brisbane in 2025, per Deloitte Access Economics' modelling for Study Queensland. Export revenue (student spending on tuition, goods and services) was $4.73 billion the same year — a related but separate figure that shouldn't be added to the value-added number.
Is JCU Brisbane the same as James Cook University's main campus?
No. James Cook University is headquartered in Townsville, and its Brisbane CBD campus is delivered under a long-standing management agreement by Russo Higher Education (part of the Sarina Russo Group), not run directly by JCU staff — worth knowing if you're comparing it against a university-run campus elsewhere in the city.