SYDNEY, Mar. 2 (People's Daily Online) -- The latest statistics from Australian Department of Education and Training shows that the number of Australia's international students had grown 10% from 2014 to 2015, reaching nearly half a million. China contributed 27.3 per cent of all international students in Australia, the highest of any nationality.

Chinese students continue to flock to Australia with 136,097 students last year, increasing 13.3% in 2015 compared with the previous year. Apart from China, other top countries include India, Vietnam, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Brazil, Thailand, Nepal and Indonesia.

Richard Colbeck, the Minister for Tourism and International Education noted that International education delivered nearly AU$20 billion to the Australian economy in 2015, confirming the importance of the sector to Australia's growing knowledge economy. These figures prove that international education is one of the five super-growth sectors and it's supporting the economy transferring to a more diversified economy.

Australian government's reforms have cut regulatory costs for institutions by AU$48.2 million a year, allowing Australian universities, vocational education and training providers, English language providers and schools to focus on their core business of providing high quality education to students.