$3bn overseas student revenue fall dismissed

THE federal government has dismissed a $3 billion decline in revenue from international students last year.

THE federal government has dismissed a $3 billion decline in revenue from international students last year, saying "the drop was as expected, and a good thing".

Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans said the fall was contained to vocational colleges that the government had targeted with reforms to stop "visa rorting".

But a Deloitte's report last year for peak group Universities Australia anticipated a worst-case scenario of just 3 per cent decline in 2011 across all education sectors.

Yesterday's figures reveal a 20 per cent fall last year alone.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released yesterday show the growth in GDP slowed to 0.4 per cent in the December quarter from 0.8 per cent in the September quarter. More than a third of this can be attributed to losses in international education revenue.

In December, international education earned $2.8bn, down from $3.7bn a year earlier -- a 26 per cent drop.

Senator Evans was "not concerned by the statistics reported and I don't accept the criticism".

"The fall-off has been in the lower levels of vocational courses and that reflects the government's decision that I made when I was immigration minister to end the migration rorts. That sector was [characterised] by visa-rorting; people being sold a visa rather than an education," he said.

Last year's Deloitte's report found forecasts for 2012 were for another weak year.