Student equity performance in Australian higher education: 2007 to 2014

This NCSEHE Briefing Note provides an update on domestic undergraduate student enrolment and equity outcomes from 2007 to 2014, following Koshy and Seymour (2014). It focuses on undergraduate outcomes for Table A providers, given policy changes in recent years to Australian undergraduate education that affect them, including the full deregulation of undergraduate places in 2012 under the Demand Driven System (DDS). It reports on the number of domestic undergraduates between 2007 and 2014 in the 38 ‘Table A providers’ in Australian higher education and enrolments in seven equity groups: Low Socio-Economic Status (‘low SES’) students; Students with Disability; Indigenous Students; Women in Non-Traditional Areas; Regional Students; Remote Students; and Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) students (also referred to as ‘Culturally and Linguistically Diverse’ or ‘CALD’ students). In each equity group, results are reported for the national system in total, by institutional groupings, by state and territory, and by regional or metropolitan status, for each year. All reporting is for domestic undergraduates in each given year. The institutional groupings in 2014 were as follows: The Group of Eight: Australian National University (ANU), Melbourne, Monash, Sydney, New South Wales (UNSW), Queensland (UQ), Western Australia (UWA), and Adelaide. The Australian Technology Network (ATN): Curtin University, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), RMIT University (RMIT), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and University of South Australia (UniSA). The Innovative Research Universities (IRU): Murdoch, Flinders, Griffith, James Cook (JCU), La Trobe, Charles Darwin University (CDU) and Newcastle. (Note: Newcastle left the IRU in December 2014). Regional Universities Network: Southern Cross, New England (UNE), Federation, Sunshine Coast (SCU), CQUniversity Australia (CQU), and Southern Queensland (USQ). The Unaligned Universities: Other Table A providers) – Macquarie, Wollongong, Deakin, Charles Sturt (CSU), Tasmania, Australian Catholic University (ACU), Canberra, Edith Cowan University (ECU), Swinburne, Victoria, Western Sydney (WSU) and The Batchelor Institute (Batchelor) (Note: Batchelor and CDU entered into a collaborative partnership in 2012 which has seen CDU take delivery of most undergraduate programs.) In addition, an analysis is reported for universities on the basis of their campus location and infrastructure, as per Koshy and Phillimore (2013): Regionally Headquartered: Institutions with a major regional – CSU, Southern Cross, UNE, Federation, CQU, JCU, USQ, Tasmania, CDU, and Batchelor. Metropolitan Institutions with Regional Campuses: Institutions with one or more regional campus – Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong, Deakin, La Trobe, Monash, RMIT, Melbourne, QUT, UQ, SCU, Curtin, ECU, Murdoch, UWA, Flinders, Adelaide, UniSA, and ACU. No Regional Campuses: Metropolitan Institutions with no regional campus: ANU, Sydney, UNSW, Griffith, Macquarie, Canberra, Swinburne, Victoria and WSU. All student data reported or derived for the purposes of this document are sourced from Students: Selected Higher Education Statistics 2014 (Appendix 2: Equity Data), published by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training (2015)

Student equity performance in Australian higher education: 2008 to 2015

This NCSEHE Briefing Note provides an update on domestic undergraduate student enrolment and equity outcomes from 2008 to 2015, following Koshy and Seymour (2015). In keeping with the earlier editions of this series, the briefing note focuses on undergraduate outcomes for Table A providers. It provides a guide to trends across equity groups during this period, which included substantial changes to Australian higher education, including the introduction of the demand driven system for enrolments and the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Programme (HEPPP) to support low SES undergraduate enrolments

Equity Policy and Participation in Australian Higher Education

This thesis undertakes an analysis of key issues in Australian higher education equity policy in view of current policy settings and empirical research on the determinants of undergraduate higher education participation. Equity policy is defined to include government initiatives to promote higher education participation amongst groups who have been historically disadvantaged in their access (‘equity student groups’) and the categorisation and measurement tools used to identify students belonging to these groups

Commonwealth infrastructure funding for Australian universities: 2004 to 2011

This paper provides an overview of recent trends in the provision of general infrastructure funding by the Commonwealth for Australian universities (Table A providers) over the period 2004 to 2011. It specifically examines general infrastructure development and excludes funding for research infrastructure through the Australian Research Council or the research funding programme of the Education Investment Fund

A Comparative Assessment of Australian Student Visa Policy

Following recent falls in international student commencements in Australia, there has been a renewed call for a revision to student visa policy. In response to this discussion the Commonwealth Government established the Knight Review of the Student Visa Program in December 2010. This paper discusses several policy options following acomparative analysis of student visa systems in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. The underlying fi nding is that Australia’s student visa system is more complex, more costly and imposes greater fi nancial obligations on international students and their families than comparable countries. Australia could benefi t from an overall simplifi cation of its student visa system, including a streamlining of the number of visas available to students and a reduction in the stringency of the tests applied in regard to financial capacity and proof of funding. In addition, attention should be paid to post-study employment options under the student visa system and the nexus between higher education attainment and immediate work options

Meeting the Rudd Government's equity targets for universities: three scenarios

The Rudd Government has outlined a goal that by 2025, 40 per cent of Australians aged 25 to 34 should hold a Bachelor 's level qualification and that, by 2020, around 20 per cent of undergraduate enrolments at Australian universities should be filled by students from low socio- economic-status (SES) backgrounds. The current level of low SES participation is 16.3 per cent, with substantial diversity in outcomes between institutional groupings and states and territories. This paper considers three policy options for raising national participation levels of students from low SES backgrounds: (i) uniform increases across all institutions to meet the 20 per cent national target; (ii) differential increases in indirect proportion to current levels of low SES participation by institutions; and (iii) differential increases proportional to the share of the low SES population located within each state and territory. The authors find that a national approach to achieving the 20 per cent target needs to consider both current enrolment patterns across institutional groupings as well as differences in the low SES population across the states and territories. Students' SES is currently determined by their postcode. The authors argue that this is unsatisfactory and that better measures must be developed before targets can be set for individual institutions

Analyzing the Share Composition of CO2 Emissions in Asian Countries

This paper is concerned with the fossil fuel composition of carbon emissions in 10 selected Asian countries. It assesses how economic development may affect this composition through various channels. This paper contributes to the debate on the EKC (environmental Kuznets curve) puzzle, which hypothesizes an inverted U-shaped relationship between per capita income and pollution. The paper examines the EKC hypothesis in an empirical analysis of channels that may allow for this effect. In particular, a specific subset of this general paradigm is investigated using a fractional multinomial logit model to assess how indicators associated

A cost benefit analysis of vocational rehabilitation services provided by CRS Australia

This paper analyses the costs and benefits of participation in vocational rehabilitation programs provided by CRS Australia, an Australian Government business unit . It presents estimates of cost data from CRS Australia databases and an analysis of benefits data on employment participation and the reduction in the receipt of Australian government benefits from surveys of CRS Australia clients. Non-participants who did not enter a CRS Australia program following an initial assessment interview were also examined to obtain a control group against which the outcomes from participation in CRS Australia programs can be measured

Governance structures for competition policy: A case study for the Philippines

Competition policy has become one of the key elements of national economic policy in many countries around the world. This is due to the important role that competition plays in ensuring that markets efficiently produce goods and services that best meet evolving consumer demands. This paper explores the rationale for a comprehensive competition policy and sets out the principles of governance and a suggested governance structure that would deliver an effective competition policy in the Philippines. It also explores the difficulties in implementing competition policy in a developing country where public policy governance structures are not well resourced