Public schools with the most international students

Victorian public schools are making up to $2.5m a year from international students as enrolments surge. These are the most in demand schools.

Ashwood High School VCE students Ziming and Freya. Ziming is an international student and a Victorian Global Learning Awards winner. Picture: Supplied

More than 3700 international students study in Victorian state schools, including 1300 in primary schools, the Herald Sun can reveal.

While international students from countries such as China, India and the Middle East pay top-dollar to attend the state’s many private schools, around 250 government schools also have fee-paying foreign students.

Some schools such as Keysborough Secondary College have 140 foreign students – twice as many as ten years ago.

Noble Park Secondary College has 141 international students, which account for 30 per cent of all enrolments.

The number of foreign students has surged over the past decade, with many schools such as Box Hill Senior Secondary College enrolling four students in 2011 but 60 in 2021.

Bayside P-12 College has gone from nine to 90 international students in the past 10 years.

The list includes around 70 accredited primary schools including those in Balwyn, Box Hill, Donburn, Elwood, McKinnon and Taylors Lakes.

Primary students are accepted from the age of five but they must live with a parent or approved guardian.

Lucrative fees of up to $18,800 per student are swelling the coffers of some schools by $2.5m a year.

However, the state government has denied that full-fee paying international students are taking the place of local students.

All Victorian government schools are required to enrol local students residing within their zone before accepting international students who are in Australia on a study visa.

Secondary students are required to have a good level of English before starting but primary students do not and many learn the language by mixing with Victorian kids in class.

It comes as some of the state’s most prestigious private schools scour social media and international markets in a bid to draw overseas students to their campuses.

More tailored programs such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) and accelerated curriculums remain popular draw cards at colleges such as Trinity Grammar and Wesley College.

Meanwhile, Geelong Grammar has appealed to prospective families through Facebook posts encouraging current families to recommend the exclusive school to potential overseas students.

A Department of Education spokesman said thousands of international students

“choose to study at Victorian government schools because of our world-class teachers and facilities.”

“Victoria is the Education State and we recognise the contribution that international students make to our economy and social fabric,” he said.

Ziming, an international student at Ashwood High, said he liked the “surroundings and environment” of his Melbourne school.

“The friends that I made here, they are all really good to me. They always motivate me by their words and inspire me a lot,” he said.