Higher education is rapidly changing at the global and the local level. In this Joining the Dots briefing, newly released data from the 2011 Census of Australian Population and Housing has been explored to provide insight into the characteristics of Australian university students and how they have changed in the first decade of the 21st century. An understanding of the university student population and how it is evolving is important for institutions, policy-makers and prospective students. This briefing provides the latest insight into university students in Australia based on the most comprehensive data collection of the Australian population available. To provide perspective on how things are changing, data from previous Censuses have also been utilised here.