By Alex Crowe
Public school staff took more than 40 overseas trips to recruit international students to Victoria in the past financial year, as new data reveals the state’s booming education export industry.
Victoria remains the most popular Australian destination for international students at primary and secondary levels, attracting more than any other state in 2024 and every year since Australian Bureau of Statistics records began.
Camberwell High School international students Meilee Rianrukwong and Ryan Shan with principal Jillian Laughlin.Credit: Simon Schluter
More than 9370 international students were enrolled in primary and secondary schools across Victoria’s public and private sectors in 2024, including 5858 in state schools.
The number of fee-paying international students at government schools increased to more than 6230 this year, bringing in $13,000 to $20,000 per student for the public institutions.
“They’re overcoming the huge challenges of learning in a second language and living far from their family,” Camberwell High School principal Jillian Laughlin said.
“Education is so important that all of those things are put aside to realise the dream of being able to study in Australia, to study in Melbourne.”
This year, 84 of Camberwell High’s 814 new enrolments were international students, mostly from China and Vietnam. Most will study at the public co-educational school for two-and-a-half years, and plan to apply for further study at Victorian universities.
Laughlin took part in a recruitment trip to Vietnam and Cambodia alongside principals from eight state schools in September.
On the trips arranged by recruitment agencies in Ho Chi Minh, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, the principals visited education expos and met with families of prospective and current international students.
Nationally, more than 26,000 full-fee-paying international students chose Australian primary and secondary schools in 2024, an increase of 23.4 per cent on the previous year.
Overseas student enrolments climbed to pre-COVID levels for the first time, after dropping 41.9 per cent from 2019 to 2022.
Education economist Adam Rorris said there was potential for concern when “chain migration” occurred and a handful of schools became popular with overseas families, creating a “cottage industry” in certain locations.
“If the enrolments are occurring in schools which are already overstretched, then there’s a problem because kids from the local community are being squeezed out,” he said.
Rorris said if Victorian families then opted for less in-demand public schools, it was an efficient way to distribute them across the system. If they instead chose private schools – which receive the bulk of funding from the Commonwealth – it saved the state money.
“I would not be one to say there should be no overseas students … but they should be distributed evenly across the system,” he said.
“Schools are not there as a market. Schools are there, especially public schools, to serve local communities.”
China was the next most popular recruitment destination for Victorian public school staff in the last financial year, followed by Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. International students’ fees pay for the trips, with the prospect of generating more income for the public institutions.
“In Victoria – the education state – we welcome international students, recognising the significant contribution they make to our classrooms and communities,” an Education Department spokesperson said. “But we also make sure that local students have first access to government schools.”
The Education Department says it cannot accept international students in place of local student enrolments and that every Victorian student has an entitlement to enrol in their designated neighbourhood government school before schools accept international student enrolments.
“International students are greatly valued members of our school communities – they bring language and cultural diversity to our classrooms and help connect Victorian students to the world,” the spokesperson said.
International students represent an even bigger boon for private schools, paying tens of thousands of dollars more than domestic students to be funnelled into top-tier tertiary institutions.
Private girls’ school St Catherine’s in Toorak charges international students more than $95,000 to board in senior years, about $15,000 more than Australian students.
St Catherine’s, which works with recruitment agencies in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia, increased the number of students who speak a language other than English at home from 12 per cent in 2019 to 27 per cent last year.
The University of Melbourne has partnered with several schools to attract international students.Credit: Simon Schluter
Seventy-two per cent of students were from the top quartile of socio-educational advantage in 2024, up from 66 per cent five years ago.
Wesley College charges international students up to $98,500 to board for the year, with overseas families paying an extra $12,000 more than those in Australia.
St Catherine’s and Wesley are two of 25 Melbourne schools working with the University of Melbourne designed to “inspire year 11 and 12 students about future study opportunities”.
“Each year, the program assists Wesley College to support their high-achieving international students through targeted on-campus academic activities at the university, sponsorship of school-based scholarly prizes for top-achieving international students [and] provision of tailored university course information to assist international students in their application for the University of Melbourne following their year 12 studies,” Wesley’s website says.
Higher education accounts for almost half of international enrolments in Victoria, contributing the lion’s share of the export industry’s $14.8 billion annual revenue in 2023.
Camberwell High School’s Ryan Shan, from Thailand, and Meilee Rianrukwong, from China, both intend to study in Melbourne after graduating.
Meilee said the city’s universities have strong academic reputations, and the CBD was student-friendly.
International students Meilee Rianrukwong and Ryan Shan, pictured with Camberwell High principal Jillian Laughlin, are enjoying Melbourne.Credit: Simon Schluter
“In China, education is more focused on memorisation and exams, while in Australia, there’s more on critical thinking, group discussions, and independent learning. Also, the relationship between students and teachers here feels more relaxed and interactive,” she said.
Ryan said he felt welcome in Melbourne from the moment he arrived, despite finding school a bit of an adjustment.
“Education here is totally different compared to Thailand. Back there, I used to study eight periods a day plus [have an] after-school tutor,” he said.
“I just fell in love with the vibe in Melbourne.”
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