IDP Reports Huge Growth in Student Placement in Australia

The half-year financial report of the IDP for 2023 shows how it continues on an upward growth trajectory with a 26% overall revenue increase to reach $502 million, boosted by a 142% growth in Australian student placement revenue.

There is an evident increase in the demand for student placement worldwide; it increased by a whopping 53% compared to the first half of the last year. The student placement pipeline is also continuing to grow and recharge, with an increase in applicants of up to 71% in Australia and New Zealand. 

Revenues have increased in total: English Language Testing revenue increased by 10% in the first six months of 2023 to $285.4 million; Student Placement worldwide increased to $172.8 million from $106.2 million; English Language Teaching increased from $8.7 million to $15.7 million; and Digital Marketing and Events revenues increased to $26.5 million from $23.8 million.

“While all our destination countries performed well, the reopening of Australia’s borders in late 2021 triggered a strong recovery, indicating the underlying attractiveness of Australia as a study destination,” was IDP’s CEO, Tennealle O’Shaugnessy’s comment.

“As we continue our focus on enhancing our customer experience, this period saw the IELTS partners introduce IELTS Online in more than 40 countries in addition to expanding our physical global test centre network,” O’Shaughnessy added.

It’s important to note that IDP acquired the Indian IELTS business in 2019 from the British Council for £130 million. While this increased the revenue to 11% from IELTS, a price alteration set in the financial year also made an impact, from $266 million to $280 million.

The number of IELTS test takers has increased and gained around 5% in most countries, which noted seeing pre-pandemic IELTS levels in FY22, making the increase around 1,019,100–200,000, which is more than this time in 2022. The countries that saw particular growth were Vietnam, Nigeria, Nepal, and Pakistan. 

A delay in visa processing and reopening, among various other factors, caused a slight decline in online shore testing in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. 

“IELTS volumes in Australia and New Zealand decreased slightly as demand is limited by the number of candidates onshore requiring a test to obtain a new visa,” the IDP report highlighted.

A rise of 22% was seen in Canada with “supply-side constraints”, including those visa processing delays that impact student enrolments.

The 142% increase in student placements in Australia was equivalent to 15,200 placements, a rise of 128% on this time in 2022.

Intake Education’s financial reports were also included in the report; this is due to IDP acquiring the company in November 2022. These reports revealed that a $71 million cash sum was paid for the company, as well as an “additional contingent consideration up to $20.2 million,” which was paid on the first anniversary of the takeover.

At this half-year point, the general revenue shows a net profit after tax of $84.4—a 59% increase on this time the previous year. A figure of around $502 million was the result of this general revenue increase of 26%.

Geographically speaking, Asia has proven to be the dominant growth player with an increase of 30% year-on-year in revenue growth; this is shown in the explosive increase in revenue from Cambodia at 89%, Nepal at 183%, Vietnam at 98%, and India, which had a smaller yet encouraging growth, at 25%.

Following the geographical patterns, Australasia grew by 10%; this is primarily driven by the previously mentioned explosive placement growth. The earnings in Australia before interest and tax grew by 4%, which, according to the report, was a result of lower revenue growth than expense growth.

A 65% increase compared to the previous year was seen in English Language Teaching courses, with over 44,700 courses sold, and schools in Cambodia and Vietnam are returning to on-campus classes that resulted in an 80% increase in revenue in the region, despite some “social distancing restrictions limiting class size capacity”.

Dividends paid to shareholders also increased by 55%. The report also elaborated on the fact that “Vietnam [ELT] revenue grew by 98% but remains significantly lower than the pre-pandemic revenues.”