The Koala News reported earlier this month the release by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in September 2024 of an expert article on the recording of international students in Australia’s balance of payments. Why is international education an export?
The purpose of the expert article was to explain why international education is an export for Australia, to explain why all expenditure by international students studying in Australia, including tuition fees, food, accommodation, local transport, and health services, is recorded as an export.
Because that is the way it is done globally, in accordance with international standards specified in the International Monetary Fund’s Balance of Payments Manual.
The article previewed data to be released later this year, with information that the value of education as an export for Australia in financial year 2023/24 was $50.492 billion, from $36.423 billion a year earlier.
The article provided two other expert figures.
The classification of international education as an export does not mean that all expenditure by international students in Australia is funded from overseas. ABS suggests that around a quarter of the total expenditure of $50.492 billion, or around $13 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, is funded by international students working in Australia for Australian employers.
Australia also imports education when Australians study overseas. Total expenditure by Australian students studying abroad was $500 million in 2023/24, included in the value of Australia’s imports.
The Bureau’s release of International Trade: Supplementary Information, for financial year 2023/24, scheduled for 17 December 2024, will enable detailed analyses of the value of education as an export for Australia and the states and territories.
In the meantime, the expert article’s preview release of the $50.492 billion value of education as an export for Australia in 2023/24 shows how far that value might drop in the imminent third perfect storm.
Education and Tourism as Exports for Australia: 1998/99 to 2023/24
The first perfect storm hit a decade ago, with a spate of education provider closures, revelations about poor-quality providers; unscrupulous practices by education agents, and student safety concerns. The value of education as an export for Australia dropped from $18.9 billion in 2009/10 to $18.2 billion in 2010/11, $17.1 billion in 2011/12 and $16.9 billion in 2012/13, then recovered to $18.5 billion in 2013/14 and $21.3 billion in 2014/15.
The second perfect storm was the pandemic. The value of education as an export for Australia dropped from $37.6 billion in 2018/19 to $37.3 million in 2019/20, $27.6 billion in 2020/21, $20.8 billion in 2021/22, then jumped to $36.4 billion in 2022/23 and $50.5 billion in 2023/24.
Ahead of the third perfect storm, the value of education as an export for Australia is at an all-time of peak $50.5 billion in 2023/24.
The ABS expert article dated 25 September 2024 is at https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/recording-international-students-balance-payments
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