Seven international students have received scholarships of A$10,000 and been named ambassadors for Victoria’s Study Melbourne initiative at a ceremony attended by governor of Victoria Linda Dessau and Minister for Training and Skills Steve Herbert at Government House.

Seven education providers were also named as category winners.

“It definitely is an honour to be recognised for what I’ve done these three years”

The prestigious Premier’s Award – International Student of the Year accolade, which comes with an additional $10,000 grant, went to the Fang Xuan Koay, a Malaysian student studying at the University of Melbourne, for her advocacy work for international students’ rights, including volunteering for the Council of International Students Australia.

“It definitely is an honour… to be recognised for what I’ve done these three years, and I think it is a great awards to recognise all the students who have contributed so much to the international student experience here in Australia,” she commented.

As well as recognising international entrants from the ELT, VET, higher education and research sectors, this year’s student categories included for the first time a ‘Victorian Student of the Year – Internationalisation’.

The title was won by Joslyn Ma of Monash University, founder of a state-wide bilingual language competition, for her focus on enhancing cultural integration between domestic and international students.

“This is very important to me, because having studied in Hong Kong for 10 years, we need a platform to recognise global talent,” she said.

In the provider categories, Impact English College won both the Premier’s Award – International Education Provider of the Year and the Excellence in International Student Experience award, while RMIT University topped the Excellence in International Student Employability and Career Development category.

The awards also recognised top institutions serving international students in the ELT, Private Education and Training, TAFE and university sectors.

A spokesperson for ABILITY English, which received the Excellence in International Education – ELT award, attributed the school’s success partly to its model of promoting “sound intercultural skills” and enabling students to learn from each other.

“It was this demonstrated commitment to offering innovative curriculum and teaching methods that saw ABILITY English take top honours in this year’s awards,” they said.

International education is Victoria’s largest services export sector, generating $5.6bn in export earnings in 2014 and enrolling some 160,000 international students each year.

Minister for Training and Skills Steve Herbert congratulated all of the award winners, adding that the state government is “committed to cementing Victoria’s position as an international education destination”.

The award winners in full:

Provider winners
Excellence in International Student Employability and Career Development: RMIT University
Excellence in International Student Experience: Impact English College
Excellence in International Education – ELT: Ability English
Excellence in International Education – Private Education and Training: The Australian Ballet School
Excellence in International Education – TAFE: Box Hill Institute
Excellence in International Education – University: Monash University
Excellence in Innovation in Industry Partnerships: Deakin University and IBM

Student winners
Victorian Student of the Year – Internationalisation: Joslyn Ma, Monash University (Australia)
International Student of the Year – ELT: Jirayut Prompen, Monash University English Language Centre (Thailand)
International Student of the Year – VET: Iyiade ‘Hybee’ Aibinu, Box Hill Institute (Nigeria)
International Student of the Year – HE: Fang Xuan Koay, The University of Melbourne (Malaysia)
International Student of the Year – Research: Ashrafalsadat Hosseini, The University of Melbourne (Iran)

Premier’s Award winners
Premier’s Award – International Student of the Year: Fang Xuan Koay, The University of Melbourne (Malaysia)
Premier’s Award – International Education Provider of the Year: Impact English College