The table illustrates the demographic composition of students across six departments at an Australian university in 2011, specifically regarding gender, first language, and birthplace.
Overall, there is a stark contrast between the departments. Humanities and Education are dominated by female students, whereas Information Technology and Engineering have the lowest female representation. Conversely, the technical departments generally report higher percentages of students whose first language is not English and who were born outside Australia.
Regarding gender, Humanities and Education show the highest female proportions at 72% and 68% respectively. In contrast, Engineering and Information Technology have the lowest, at 15% and 17%. Science and Physics occupy the middle ground, with 52% and 56% female students.
In terms of language and origin, Information Technology and Science have the highest proportions of students whose first language is not English, at 49% and 45%. Physics and Information Technology share the highest percentage of students born outside Australia, both at 56%. Humanities reports the lowest figures for both non-English first language (12%) and birth outside Australia (20%). Overall, the data highlights that technical fields attract a more diverse international student body compared to the humanities.