International Students

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Can the minister inform the council about his plans for consulting with industry and education groups to grow South Australia's vital international education sector?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:48): I thank the honourable member for his question and his ongoing interest in this very important sector of our economy. In fact, international students are indeed a very important sector of the economy. For every four international students who come to live and learn in Adelaide, one extra full-time job is created.

South Australia is a fantastic destination for students wanting to study abroad, with high-quality education institutes and, of course, an enviable lifestyle in our great City of Adelaide. Despite year-on-year growth, our national market share of international student numbers presently sits at 4.5 per cent and will likely drop further unless we make changes. There is a need to work together on a South Australia-first approach between government, local institutions and industry.

We are committed to growing our international education sector, which is South Australia's largest service export, injecting over $1.5 billion into the state's economy every year. It is because of the government's view to grow student numbers that we decided to increase funding as an election commitment to StudyAdelaide, and in this budget money was made available to a total of $2.5 million in annual support for the next four years.

StudyAdelaide is vitally important and we recognise the important function of the board, made up of major educational institutions and government, as well as an independent chair and members from the industry. While the previous government considered stopping funding to StudyAdelaide altogether, this government believes we should do more to market Adelaide as a centre of education excellence and to entice more international students to live and study in South Australia.

One of the most recent initiatives working with industry to give them superior employability outcomes to international students is the Adelaide Engage program. I was honoured to launch the program earlier this year. The Engage program has already seen over 300 international students from four universities working as business consultants under the mentorship of industry professionals, delivering real world business projects.

Some of the businesses involved in the program include BankSA, BUPA, Angelakis Brothers, Royal Park Dental, Barossa Fine Foods, Chooks SA, Penley Estate, Insider Guides and more. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from the students, business clients and industry mentors, but that is not all. I have recently established a new Ministerial Advisory Council for International Education (MACIE) to provide strategic advice on growing the industry.

The advisory committee has already met since the establishment and is made up of representatives from the three public universities, Torrens University, TAFE SA, SACE, StudyAdelaide, the public and private schools sector and other industry experts. I was very pleased to chair the very first meeting of MACIE on 31 July and there was a lot of enthusiasm amongst all those present with the new government's approach to growing this important sector.

The next meeting of MACIE will be held next week, on 23 October, and I look forward to furthering these initial discussions with the industry and education groups. The more international students we can attract to this state the greater the benefits for our local economy. All these students will spend on accommodation, goods and local services while they are living here, creating more jobs for South Australians.

As you can see, there is a lot we have already done in the short time since forming government, and while the former Labor government was intent on cutting funding to this vital economic sector we are delivering on our election commitments to create more jobs by actively developing this important sector, hand in hand with local education institutions and industry to grow the international student numbers to this great state of South Australia.