Data released earlier this year by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) shows that 399 students from 47 Victorian schools sat the VCE (Unit 4) Year 12 examination in Indonesian in 2025—up (18%) from 337 students from 44 schools in 2024.
Overall, total Victorian Year 12 enrolments in languages increased for a second year in a row in 2025–up 8.7% year-over-year, following a 6% increase in 2024. Enrolments were up in 2025 (almost) across the board, including: Chinese (up 11.8%), Indonesian (up 18.4%), Italian (up 18.8%); and Vietnamese (up 9.2%).
In June 2026, the Australian Parliament’s House Standing Committee on Education—chaired by the Albanese government’s Indian Ocean Envoy, the Hon Tim Watts MP—handed down the findings and recommendations of the Committee’s inquiry into Building Asia Capability in Australia through the education system and beyond. The Committee’s final report, titled Security and Prosperity in Asia, contains 34 recommendations for state and federal governments.
The recommendations include: establishment of a working group on Asia capability in schools within the Education Ministers Meeting (Recommendation #4); a new national “Asia Leaders Schools” program for priority Asian languages (initially Chinese, Indonesian, Hindi, and Japanese) (#5); an urgent Indonesian language schools intervention package (#6); the establishment of an Acicis-like “Australian Schools in Asia (ASIA) Consortium” to facilitate outbound student mobility to Asia by Australian school students (#7); and a nationally consistent 5-point ATAR bonus for Year 12 completion of a priority Asian language in Year 12 (#8).
At Acicis, we’re looking forward to playing our part to realise the ambition of the Inquiry’s recommendations.
To the 399 Victorian students who sat the Year 12 VCE examination in Indonesian in 2025—and to the dedicated teachers who got them across the line—I offer my congratulations and gratitude. Welcome to a very special club. I hope to see you on an Acicis program in Indonesia soon.
Full Victorian enrolment data deck is available for download here.
