Nice work.SA leads nation in attracting foreign students
By SEAN FEWSTER
27dec05
SOUTH Australia is set to enter 2006 as the dominant force in the international education market in Australia.
State Government figures to be released today show a 63 per cent increase in the number of overseas students studying in Adelaide - compared with just 26.2 per cent nationally.
SA leads the nation in every educational category, including vocational training and pre-tertiary schooling.
Further Education Minister Stephanie Key vowed to double SA's market share within 10 years despite a national "slump" in enrolments. She said the local sector was growing at twice the rate of its national counterpart.
"SA has so much to offer international students including world-renowned institutions, cheap cost of living and affordable, central accommodation," she said.
"We're aiming to double our share of overseas students to 9 per cent in 2013, and these figures show we're right on track," Ms Key said. The figures were compiled by Australian Education International - a peak body that promotes local education to parents and students overseas.
Since 2002, the number of international students enrolling in Adelaide schools - from high school to tertiary - rose 63 per cent.
That means 17,900 students chose Adelaide over the rest of the country, compared with 10,998 in 2002. The national increase over the same period was 26.2 per cent.
Universities provided the biggest boost to numbers - an 87 per cent increase from 4995 students to 9339 this year. In schools, student numbers went from 1317 in 2002 to 1961 this year.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show $278 million of the state's 2004 economy came from international students - up by $23 million on the 2003 figure.