By Emily Kowal
The first time an Australian teacher told Liwon Ahn to rest, she was confused. In her homeland of Korea, school wasn’t just about learning – it was about survival.
“It was pressure, perfection and performance,” she said. “I studied really hard. Not to beat others, but because I thought it was the only way to survive.”
Strathfield Girls High School international students Liwon Ahn, Yashan Liang and Changyue Liu.Credit: Steve Siewert
Everything changed when she moved to Australia in year 8, enrolling as an international student at Strathfield Girls High.
“It gave me something Korea never did: space to breathe,” Ahn said. This is the beauty of Australian education, she says.
“Everyone here accepts each other. No matter what. That’s why I love Australia.”
But this space to breathe is becoming harder to find. Across Sydney, public schools have been forced to close their doors to international admissions, as new data reveals dozens of foreign students are seeking an education at some of the city’s most in-demand schools.
Shrinking enrolment availabilities have made it difficult for international students to enter schools, said Milton Wan, chief education of the international wing of the Department of Education.
“Our growth has been limited,” Wan said. “Our schools have had limited capacity to take international students, we have had a change in our enrolment policy, which has made things a bit more strict.
“Our schools are here to serve local students first. It’s only if they have excess capacity they can take international students.”
A number of Sydney schools that have exceeded their enrolment cap do have international students, including Castle Hill, Cronulla, Prairiewood and Epping Boys high schools. They have been popular with students who come to Sydney to access the well-regarded Higher School Certificate curriculum.
In 2024, 33 international students attended Castle Hill High School, which is over capacity by 1043 students.
While those schools will honour agreements with existing students, the department said: “NSW public schools can only take in international students when they have capacity. If a school has reached its enrolment cap, it cannot enrol new international students.”
International students in senior years pay about $19,000 each to study in Sydney, contributing about “$40 million a year” to the department’s revenue, Wan said.
Between 2019 and 2024, Australia experienced a 23 per cent reduction in international school students. The number fell from 4551 in 2019 to 3500 in 2024.
Mechel Pikoulas, the principal of Strathfield Girls High School, which has 58 international students and is under capacity, said overseas students enrich classrooms.
“You have got the world in every classroom,” she said. “You have that diversity in every classroom. They bring an incredible depth and intellectual quality [to the classroom]. They have academic rigour as well.
“There’s definitely a lift in the academic push because they are coming with such high academic standards that lift our school across the board.”
Wan said it is also becoming increasingly difficult to find homestay families.
Families who once took in primary school and high school students are now turning to international university students, who pay more than school-aged children.
“There hasn’t been as many families around. Higher education providers are offering crazy money per week for homestay families. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. It’s putting more pressure on the supply of homestay.”
Wan said international students’ parents use public primary and high schools as a pathway into Australian universities.
“They are impressed by Australia’s education system,” he said. “They know that our universities are amazing, and they know that our schools are a great way to get kids prepared and great results that will allow them to go on to university.
“They appreciate the different way we do things here. Students talk about the pressure they get back home, and families understand it’s not sustainable – it’s not the best environment for their child to thrive.”
Homestay provider Agnes Ong, of Global Experience, said some of the most in-demand areas among international parents are Hunters Hill, Strathfield, Burwood, Concord, Cabramatta, Kogarah and Mosman, but it is difficult to place students in some schools.
“Burwood and Strathfield is quite popular, but they are very strict [with catchment zones]. We are rarely able to place students because of that. There are not many families living in Burwood and Strathfield who are able to take under 18s,” Ong said.
“Some schools are quite flexible and allow students to be placed outside the catchment area as long as it’s a reasonable travelling distance, up to 50 to 60 minutes. At the moment we have a lot of families in the St George, Beverley Hills, Northern Beaches, Canterbury and Parramatta areas.”
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