The Victorian State Government has followed through on a promise to invest $5 million into a ‘Say Yes to International Students Fund’, announcing the 16 recipients today.
Announced as part of Premier Jacinta Allan’s official visit to India in September 2024, the ‘Say Yes to International Students Fund’ will help Victorian universities and TAFEs foster partnerships with education providers overseas and deliver stronger offshore education offerings in countries India and Sri Lanka.
Allan’s funding announcement came in opposition to the Federal Government’s international student caps, which have been instated informally through a ministerial direction. According to Department of Education data, from April 2024 to 2025 enrolments still increased by two percent despite the caps.
Minister for Economic Growth and Jobs, Danny Pearson, says the Victorian Labor Party are continuing to advocate for the Federal Government to remove the caps.
“As Australia’s education state, we stand against student caps and with our universities and TAFEs,” he said. “We are backing international students because they drive jobs and the economy and boost Victoria’s global reputation.”
“This fund will ensure students can benefit from the world class education Victoria has to offer while supporting innovation and deepening cultural ties.”
Among the ‘Say Yes to International Students Fund’ recipients is Victoria University (VU), who will use the funding to conduct due diligence evaluations ahead of a proposed branch campus. VU will be the third Australian university to set up a campus in India, following Deakin University and University of Wollongong’s GIFT City campuses.
VU’s proposal to establish an Indian branch campus was greenlighted by India’s University Grants Commission in May, along with Western Sydney University’s proposal to open a campus in Noida.
“[We are] looking forward to working alongside local partners to…create a thriving campus for students and collaborate on ways to make a tangible contribution to India’s National Education Policy,” VU’s Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor John Germov told Times Higher Education last month.
RMIT University received funding to continue their immersion tour program with BITS Pilani, which last year saw 90 engineering students visit Melbourne for two weeks.
The students are in the inaugural cohort of the BITS-RMIT Higher Education Academy, the first dual-degree initiative between Australia and India, who will spend the first two years of study in India, before coming to Melbourne to complete the last two years of their degrees.
Melbourne University will use their ‘ Say Yes to International Students Fund’ grant to establish partnerships in India for its Bachelor of Science Advanced (Honours) degree, and Federation University will also investigate partnership feasibility in India.
Holmesglen TAFE will partner with Sri Lanka’s Australasian Academy to provide internationally recognised ICT qualifications, building on an announcement made in June.
Other projects will investigate growing partnerships in Vietnam, China and Indonesia as well.
In their statement released this morning, the Victorian Government revealed that international education contributed $15.9 billion to the state’s economy last year.
In 2024, Victoria welcomed approximately 330,000 international student enrolments from over 175 countries.
La Trobe University’s Vice Chancellor Professor Theo Farrell welcomed the ‘Say Yes to International Students Fund’ announcement back in September last year.
“The message that this new fund sends to international students could not be clearer: we want to support you to realise your dreams and ambitions through a quality Australian education,” Professor Farrell said.
