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Using Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates, the article examines 2007–08 credits and tests plausibility against implied per-student spending, highlighting why an independent scholarly assessment is needed.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/export-earnings-from-the-overseas-student-industry-how-much-analysis-and-assessment/595451/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/export-earnings-from-the-overseas-student-industry-how-much-analysis-and-assessment/595451.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Blitz","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why do the published education export figures appear inflated?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"They are inflated due to three factors: expenditure estimates rely on different student demographics, on-shore earnings are included, and direct costs like offshore agents’ fees are not deducted.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What source provides the trade-in-services estimates cited in the article?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The estimates come from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which prepares regular estimates of trade in services for Australia’s balance of payments.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What period and ABS figures are used for the article’s analysis?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The article focuses on ABS estimates for 2007–08, where credits are shown as $13.7 billion for education-related goods and services, and contrasts this with other yearly comparables.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},595451,1792210464,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":115,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \nExport earnings from the overseas student industry: how much?  \nBob Birrell & T Fred Smith  \nCentre for Population and Urban Research, Monash University  \nEducation is regularly publicised as Australia’s third-largest export behind coal and iron ore. Although it cannot be disputed that education is a major export, the published figures are inflated because of three broad factors. First, estimates of student expenditure on goods and services in Australia are based on students with different demographic characteristics than the current stock of overseas students. Second, the value of on-shore earnings by overseas students is included in the total. Third, direct costs, such as off-shore agents’ fees have not been deducted from the stated earnings. It is likely that the actual export value of education is about half the stated figure, which would bring Australia’s education export earnings into line with those in the USA.  \nIntroduction  \nBy 2008 the Australian overseas student industry contributed $15.0 billion in export income to the Australian economy from spending on fees and goods and services by overseas students in Australia.This, at least, is the claim of Australian Education International (AEI), which is responsible for overseeing and promoting the overseas student industry in Australia (AEI, 2009a).AEI is part of the Commonwealth government’s Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) .  \nAccording to AEI, education services ‘remains Australia’s third largest export, behind coal and iron ore ($46 billion and $30.2 billion respectively) and the largest services export industry ahead of personal travel services ($11 .7 billion)’(AEI, 2009b) . This assertion has been endorsed by other education authorities. Universities Australia, the peak body representing Australian universities, states that ‘education exports’  \nis the clear number one service export ahead of tourism (Universities Australia, 2009) .The $15 billion figure now routinely prefixes newspaper accounts of the overseas student industry.  \nThese estimates are not generated by the education industry itself.They derive from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).The ABS prepares regular estimates of trade in services, which includes tourism and educational services, as part of its overall estimates of the contribution of international trade to Australia’s balance of payments.  \nThe estimates for the credit items in this trade in relation to education for goods and services (living expenses) and fees over the years 2005–06 to 2007–08 are shown inTable 1.They show credits of $13.7 billion by 2007–08. The comparable figure for 2008, which is the basis for statements in the previous paragraph, was $15.0 billion. The latest comparable ABS estimate, for the year 2008-09, is $16.6 billion (ABS, 2009b) .The reason for the continuous increases, as shown below,  \n4 Export earnings from the overseas student industry: how much?, Bob Birrell & T Fred Smith vol. 52, no. 1, 2010  \nA U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \nis that export revenue, as measured by the ABS, moves in tandem with the increasing enrolments of overseas students.  \nIn this article, the focus is on the ABS estimates for 2007–08. This is because a wide range of data was needed to assess the ABS estimates, not all of which was available for 2008 at the time of writing. The choice of 2007–08 for analysis is not an issue, as our conclusions about the ABS estimates are not affected by the year chosen for scrutiny.  \nWhy an independent assessment is needed  \nThe ABS estimates have been accepted without query by the educational industry and by national and state governments.There has been no scholarly assessment of their validity.Yet there are good grounds for such an assessment.  \nOne concerns the plausibility of the ABS estimates. The A$13 .7 billion figure for 2007–08 represents an average expenditure per o","cbCailfoJXNwkwn1","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailfoJXNwkwn1","pdf",157000,"English","# Introduction\n# Why an independent assessment is needed\n## Plausibility of ABS estimates\n## Table 1: Trade in services credits and education-related travel, 2005/06 to 2007/08","[{\"question\":\"Why do the published education export figures appear inflated?\",\"answer\":\"They are inflated due to three factors: expenditure estimates rely on different student demographics, on-shore earnings are included, and direct costs like offshore agents’ fees are not deducted.\"},{\"question\":\"What source provides the trade-in-services estimates cited in the article?\",\"answer\":\"The estimates come from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which prepares regular estimates of trade in services for Australia’s balance of payments.\"},{\"question\":\"What period and ABS figures are used for the article’s analysis?\",\"answer\":\"The article focuses on ABS estimates for 2007–08, where credits are shown as $13.7 billion for education-related goods and services, and contrasts this with other yearly comparables.\"}]","Export earnings from the overseas student industry: how much? - Analysis and assessment | PDF",1792081169,23]