Ex-pat media star Andrew Biggs is Queensland’s new secret weapon to lure overseas students

Ex-pat Andrew Biggs, now a media star in Thailand, is leading the charge to make the Sunshine State a top destination for international study.

QUEENSLANDER Andrew Biggs knows all about living and succeeding in another country.

The expat former journalist, who fell in love with Thailand during a stopover en route to London in 1989 and stayed 29 years, has become one of the southeast Asian country’s biggest media stars.

Dubbed “the most omniscient farang (foreigner) in Thailand”, Biggs, who is fluent in the local language, has a Twitter following of 2.5 million. He hosts TV and radio shows and writes newspaper columns, as well as running an English-language school and producing popular Youtube videos teaching Thais to speak English.

The Queensland Government hopes to harness Biggs’ star power to entice more Thai students to come here to study.

He has spent the past 10 days here shooting eight videos to promote the Sunshine State as a study destination to his adopted nation of 69 million people.

“There is a huge potential market as Thailand becomes more affluent,” Biggs said. “The Thai education system is poor compared to Queensland and Australia.

“Queensland is close, it’s seen as safe, the weather is the same in summer and Queenslanders are friendly.”

Andrew Biggs says Queensland is attractive to a huge potential market of international students from Thailand. Picture: Liam Kidston

He has been in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Cairns interviewing Thai students in high schools, TAFEs and universities about their experiences as well as talking to host families. He also filmed in some of the state’s tourist attractions.

Hundreds of thousands of young Thais travel overseas to study each year. Biggs said they traditionally headed to the UK, US and New Zealand.

Australia attracted more than 24,000 last year, about a 10th of them in Queensland, making Thailand the 12th largest source of international students.

“Thailand is one of the fastest-growing international student markets on the planet,” said Innovation and Tourism Development Minister Kate Jones, who is also the State Government’s ministerial champion for international education.

Meet Queensland’s secret weapon in luring a booming number of students from Thailand to the Sunshine State

Thailand is the latest front in a concerted drive by the Government to boost international education, which has been identified as one of the strongest potential growth sectors for the state’s economy.

There are more than 123,000 overseas students in Queensland, making it the second biggest services export after tourism, generating $4.37 billion a year and supporting 21,000 jobs.

It grew 12 per cent in the past year but we still attract less than one in six of those who come to Australia to learn. The Study Queensland $25 million “start here, go anywhere’’ campaign, launched in June, aims to boost this proportion to 20 per cent, adding another 5000 jobs by 2026.

An Economic Foundations paper, produced by the Government earlier this year identifying the priority industries for strategic development, predicted enrolments would rise by a third over the next decade.

The Government wants to harness Biggs’ star power.

The Government is rolling funding for projects around the state to encourage overseas students to regional areas, including Townsville, the Whitsundays and Toowoomba.

Record numbers of students from China, more than 28,000 this year, have seen it become the number one source.

India is second with just over 12,000 students. Expanding international education and training services was the top element in a new Indian trade and investment strategy unveiled by Ms Jones last week.

Korea, Taiwan and Japan also offer big potential.

But Asia is not the only focus with South America firmly in the Government’s sights. A 35 per cent rise in Brazilian students in the past year to around 11,000 has seen that country become the fastest-growing source country. It will be enhanced with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the State Government and Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.

The benefits extend well beyond the immediate educational services.

Ms Jones said every student generated 2.5 visits by friends and relatives.

Brisbane Marketing CEO Brett Fraser said it was leading to direct business investment by the families of students, as well as an economic boost from the students taking up work opportunities.

Some set up their own businesses here following study, while the links forged paid off in international business connections with fellow alumni into the future.