Advertisement
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) claims that international education is Australia’s fourth largest export, earning the country $51 billion in 2023–24.
The ABS calculates this fantastical education “export” figure by summing expenditure by student visa holders on tuition fees and goods and services.
In 2024-25, the ABS estimated that $30.2 billion was spent by student visa holders on goods and services, whereas $20.6 billion was spent on tuition fees.
Advertisement
The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers
Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe
About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.