Australia's New South Wales universities rake in billions for state

International education has surged ahead of tourism in becoming Australia's New South Wales highest service export industry by nearly 2 billion Australian dollars (15.05 billion U.S. dollars), a Fairfax Media report said on Monday.

The number of overseas students in NSW universities had also shot up by more than 30,000 in the last two years with one in five university students being an international student.

Chinese and Singaporeans students had made the most number international students in the state, the report said.

While the University of Wollongong had the highest number of international students on its premises, close to 40 percent of its total population.

"Attracting international students is a crucial driver of the NSW economy and education is our state's largest services export," NSW Minister for Trade Stuart Ayres said.

"A growing middle class in Asia has increased the number of students looking at NSW for their studies," Ayres said.

NSW Department of Industry figures based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the total value of international education toward the state's economy had jumped from 5.5 billion Australian dollars (4.14 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013 to 6.96 billion Australian dollars (5.24 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015.

NSW was now raking in about a third of Australia's total international education earnings, estimated to be at 21 billion Australian dollars (15.82 billion U.S. dollars) per year.

The value of the education sector to the NSW economy is higher than tourism which was worth 5.2 billion Australian dollars (3.92 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015.

Nearly half of the international students enrolled in NSW universities were studying management and commerce courses.

Society and culture courses were the next most popular course, while accounting was a preferred course for about a quarter of the state's international students, the NSW government said. Endit