Value of education exports never higher, despite slowdown fears

Education exports continue to grow at a frantic pace as experts warn of the danger of a slowdown in students from China.

Education exports are continuing to grow at a frantic pace, even as experts warn of the danger of a slowdown in international students from China, Australia’s largest student source market.

The latest trade data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that education exports in the September quarter this year hit a quarterly record of $9.4 billion.

The value of exports in the year to September also hit a record $34bn for a 12-month period, 17 per cent higher than in the corresponding period last year.

The ABS measures education exports by adding the cost of courses taken by international students to the money spent by them in Australia on accommodation, transport, recreation, utilities and other expenses.

Last month University of Queensland chancellor Peter Varghese, a former head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, sounded a warning to universities about uncertainty in the Chinese student market.

He said that, while demand for Australian education in China was likely to remain strong, student numbers could be artificially curbed by political factors in the Australia-China relationship.

“This means understanding the risks and putting in place strategies to deal with them, including diversifying the sources of international students and not baking into their operating budgets the revenues which come from international students,” Mr Varghese told a conference of university chancellors.

The quarterly ABS data does not break down education exports by international students’ source countries.

However, other data shows that 30 per cent of all students in Australia came from China in the seven months to July this year.

But universities are highly reliant on the Chinese student market, with 39 per cent of higher education international students coming from China.

Up to July, total student numbers were 10.8 per cent higher than last year.