CRICOS August 2026 Update: 250 New Courses, 116 Removed and 823 Records Changed

Australia’s CRICOS course register expanded in the August 2026 data export. A record-by-record comparison with the July export found 250 newly listed courses, 116 removed courses and 823 continuing courses with at least one changed field. The net result was 134 additional valid course records, taking the analysed total from 26,604 in July to 26,738 in August.

The update was not simply a university-course expansion. Building qualifications accounted for 65 of the 250 additions, teacher education contributed 32, and information technology contributed 24. Monash University alone added 32 courses, including eight degrees whose titles explicitly refer to artificial intelligence.

This CRICOS.net analysis compares two official CRICOS course-export snapshots using a composite identifier: CRICOS Provider Code + CRICOS Course Code. It measures changes in the published register; it does not measure enrolments, commencements, student demand, visa approvals or the date on which a provider first marketed a course.

CRICOS August 2026 update: quick facts

The raw July and August CSV files contained 26,606 and 26,740 data rows respectively, but each ended with two fully blank placeholder rows. Those rows were excluded from all course counts. There were no duplicate non-blank composite keys in either file.

250 courses were added and 116 were removed

A course was classified as new when its provider-code/course-code pair appeared in August but not July. A course was classified as removed when the pair appeared in July but not August. This approach prevents a similarly named course at another provider from being treated as the same registration.

The net arithmetic reconciles exactly:

26,604 July courses + 250 additions − 116 removals = 26,738 August courses.

“Removed” should not automatically be read as “cancelled in August”. A record can disappear because of expiry, registration changes, replacement by another CRICOS code, a provider change or a correction in the export. The live CRICOS site and the provider should be checked before making an application or payment.

Providers with the most newly listed courses

Monash University was the clear leader, with twice as many additions as the next provider. The top 20 providers accounted for 155 additions, or 62% of all new course records.

These counts refer to legal CRICOS providers, not necessarily consumer-facing brands or campuses. They also count registrations, not unique curriculum products: different CRICOS codes are separate records even when course names are similar.

New courses by qualification level

Certificate III was the largest level, followed by Diploma and Bachelor Degree. Bachelor and Bachelor Honours registrations together made up 59 additions.

New courses by field of education

Architecture and Building was the largest broad field because all 65 additions in that category were classified in the narrow field 0403 – Building. Society and Culture ranked second, and Education ranked third.

The leading narrow fields provide more detail:

Field counts use Field of Education 1, the primary classification in the export. A dual-field course may also have a second classification, but it is counted once here to keep the total at 250.

All newly listed courses explicitly related to artificial intelligence

Twelve new course titles explicitly contained “Artificial Intelligence” or “Machine Learning”. Ten were bachelor or bachelor-honours registrations and two were coursework master’s degrees. Monash accounted for eight of the 12.

A broader technology-adjacent search also identified Master of Data Analytics (Central Queensland University, 121180G) and Bachelor of Data Science (Victoria University, 121026F). They are reported separately because “data analytics” and “data science” are not synonyms for artificial intelligence. This avoids inflating the AI count.

The eight Monash records share the same 208-week duration and $260,290 tuition figure in the August export. That does not establish identical annual fees, start dates or scholarship conditions; the live course record and provider offer should be checked.

823 continuing course records changed

Among course keys present in both snapshots, 823 had at least one text or numeric field changed. One record can contribute to several field counts, so the following figures do not sum to 823.

Smaller numbers of records changed field-of-education classifications or work-component status. A changed institution name can reflect a naming update and does not necessarily mean that a course was transferred to another legal provider, because the provider code remained part of the match key.

Largest published Tuition Fee increases

The following table ranks comparable non-null changes by dollar increase. Amounts are the whole-course values published in the two exports, not annual prices.

The $0 starting value in the largest change is a strong reason not to treat every delta as a conventional fee increase. It may represent a correction or completion of a previously missing value. The largest tuition-fee decrease was Swinburne’s Graduate Certificate of Business Administration (075583G), from $118,000 to $26,000, a $92,000 reduction that likewise appears more consistent with a data correction than an ordinary price movement.

Largest Estimated Total Course Cost increases

Estimated Total Course Cost is a separate export field and may differ from Tuition Fee because non-tuition costs can be included. It should not be interpreted as a personalised quote or a complete cost-of-living budget.

The largest decrease was again Swinburne’s Graduate Certificate of Business Administration (075583G), from $118,000 to $26,000. Because this field changed by the same amount as tuition, users should verify the current live record before relying on either snapshot.

Largest Duration changes

CRICOS duration is published in weeks. The largest movements include full-year multiples and apparent corrections between one-year and four-year durations.

The largest decrease was University of Wollongong’s Bachelor of Medical and Health Sciences (Honours), CRICOS 068534G, from 208 to 52 weeks (−156 weeks). Several vocational records moved from 104 to 52 weeks. These are registry changes, not evidence that currently enrolled students’ individual study plans were automatically shortened or extended.

What the August data says about Australia’s international course market

Three patterns stand out.

First, the growth was broad but uneven. Architecture and Building supplied more than a quarter of all additions, driven by Certificate III and diploma-level registrations. The month’s expansion therefore cannot be described simply as a university or postgraduate trend.

Second, AI became more visible in named higher-education products. Twelve new titles explicitly referenced artificial intelligence or machine learning, and the additions extended AI into biomedical science, design, health sciences, arts, science, media communication, commerce and business administration. The register shows product diversification; it does not by itself show student demand.

Third, administrative maintenance was much larger than the net increase. The register grew by 134 valid records, but 823 continuing records changed, including hundreds of fee, total-cost and duration fields. For students and advisers, this means that checking only whether a CRICOS code exists is not enough: the current cost, duration, delivery location and expiry status also matter.

Official CRICOS sources

The Australian Government’s live CRICOS register is the authoritative place to check current providers and courses. The CRICOS dataset catalogue on data.gov.au provides downloadable snapshot resources and explicitly advises users to consult the live site for the latest version.

The Department of Education explains that institutions may enrol and deliver education services in Australia to student-visa holders only when appropriately registered on CRICOS; registered providers must meet the ESOS Act and National Code requirements. See the Department’s Registration on CRICOS guidance.

The legal basis is the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000. Section 14A provides for the Commonwealth Register and its contents, while the Education Services for Overseas Students Regulations 2019 prescribe additional information to be entered for providers and courses.

Frequently asked questions

Analysis date: 4 August 2026. Always confirm the current CRICOS record, course location, intake, fees and provider conditions before making a study or payment decision.