International students will be given incentives to study in regional NSW under a plan put forward by Premier Gladys Berejiklian to ease Sydney’s population growth.

The Premier will present her proposal for the students at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian is expected to challenge Prime Minister Scott Morrison's approach to population growth at the COAG meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday. Credit:Fairfax Media

An estimated 220,000 of the 400,000 temporary migrants in NSW are international students. The majority of them study at university or private vocational colleges in Sydney, generating the state's second largest export industry worth $10.3 billion in 2016-17.

Ms Berejikilian wants population growth to be the only issue at the COAG meeting, criticising the Prime Minister Scott Morrison for failing to give it enough prominence.