Australia’s international education industry’s third perfect storm did not commence in 2024, from data released on 29 April 2025 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics[1] .
In calendar year 2024, the value of education as an export for Australia was $51.518 billion, up from $46.912 billion in 2023.
Education and Tourism as Exports: Calendar Years 2000 to 2024 ($ billions)
But, digging a little deeper, there was not a lot of growth in second semester 2024.
ABS releases data for financial years and calendar years:
- calendar year 2024: $51.518 billion, financial year 2023/24: $51.032 billion, calendar year 2023: $46.912 billion.
Juggling these figures:
- Semester 1/23 and semester 2/23 aggregated to $46.912 billion while semester 2/23 and semester 1/24 aggregated to $51.032 billion, indicating that semester 1/24 was up $4.12 billion on semester 1/23.
- Semester 1/24 and semester 2/24 aggregated to $51.518 billion, while Semester 2/23 and Semester 1/2024 aggregated to $51.032 billion, indicating that semester 2/24 was up just $0.486 billion on semester 2/23.
Ahead of the third perfect storm, the value of education as an export was flat in second semester 2024.
A lot of numbers need to be crunched to determine whether education in calendar year 2024 remained Australia’s fourth largest export, the only export that captures Australia as more than a quarry with a view.
Strategy and Policy are guided by Research in Education – www.spre.com.au
[1] https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/international-trade/international-trade-supplementary-information-calendar-year/2024
