Did you know that Higher Education is a Human Right?

At the 2022 UNESCO World Higher Education Conference in Barcelona in Spain in May, UNESCO’s Director General reaffirmed that higher education is not, and should not become a privilege, but is an integral part of the fundamental right to education. Countries need to promote local and global equity of university access. 

Over the past two decades there has been a major transformation in higher education across the world with a doubling in the number of students enrolled – to 235 million students – and this number is likely to double again over the coming decade. 

However, numbers in higher education are still lagging behind in developing countries, with just 10% of young people accessing higher education compared to 79% in some richer countries. Progress has been made in terms of equality between men and women, and in 2020 there were 113 women enrolled in higher education for every 100 men in the world. Sub-Saharan Africa is lagging as the only region where there are fewer female than male students in university. 

The Australian Landscape 

Australia has (relatively) good access to higher education, with ongoing initiatives driving improvement. In May 2021, of Australians aged 15-74 over two-thirds (68%) had or were studying for a non-school qualification. Half of all young women aged 25-34 years now hold a bachelor degree or above, compared with just over a quarter (26%) twenty years ago (May 2001). 

The importance of a post-school qualification can be seen in the employment statistics in Australia. As at May 2021, 78% with a non-school qualification were employed, compared with 56% of people without one.  

Lifelong learning 

Australians continue to learn throughout their lives. In 2020-21, 42% of Australians aged 15-74 years had participated in learning over the past 12 months (7.8 million people). This ranged from formal study for a qualification such as a certificate, diploma or degree, to non-formal learning such as work-related training or personal interest learning. Online learning is becoming the most common way work-related training is delivered with post-COVID rates more than doubling from 19% in 2016-17 to 55% in 2020-21. 

QTAC supporting access to higher education 

QTAC is proud to play a part in helping give people from all walks of life access to higher education. We process upwards of 70,000 applications for tertiary study per year and in the 2022 admissions year made 51,860 offers of course places in our Queensland institutions to students.  

In addition to core business, QTAC administers the Rural and Regional Enterprise Scholarships (RRES) Program funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Education. Since 2016, the RRES Program has helped give over 4,000 students in regional and remote areas access to higher education.  

The QTAC website lists a number of Assistance Schemes such as the Educational Assistance Scheme (EAS) and Rural Access Scheme. To make higher education more accessible to prospective students, our Queensland institutions offer a range of support incentives such as special admissions schemes, the Rural Access Scheme,  scholarships, residential funds, regional preference schemes and flexible modes of learning. You can find out more information on the range of special admissions schemes on the Queensland institution’s websites.   

Author: Dr Janet Buchan

 

Sources 

University World News (https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20220520090907357 ) 

ABS Statistics (https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/work-related-training-and-adult-learning-australia/2020-21) 

Is education returning to ‘normal’ for Queensland students? EAS tells the story

After a few somewhat disrupted years in education there are welcome signs that school and home learning environments are returning to some sort of ‘normal’ for our year 12 students and non-year 12 QTAC applicants.   

Data tells the story and QTAC’s analysis of the Educational Access Scheme (EAS) data provides useful insights into the effect the pandemic has had on student learning over the past few years. The EAS scheme assists tertiary study applicants whose recent study was impacted by financial or personal challenges.  

From 2021 to the 2022 admissions years there was a decrease in applications in all categories with a significant decrease in applications for educational disruption and financial hardship. 

There were 16,777 EAS applicants for the 2022 admissions year which is a decrease of 29% from 2021, but similar to the 16,208 applications for 2020. Key factors influencing the reduction in EAS applicants for 2022 were: lower unemployment1 with a corresponding decrease in non-year twelve EAS applicants, plus fewer COVID-19 related EAS applications from 2021 Queensland Year 12 students than the 2020 cohort, who faced larger-scale and longer-term school shutdowns. This may help to explain the 40% decrease in EAS applications in Home Environment and Responsibilities and School Environment categories, as these were where most COVID-related applications were made. 

In 2022 60% of EAS applicants were Year 12s with non-year 12 applicants making up 40% of EAS applications. EAS applications from the non-year 12 cohort in the Home Environment and Responsibilities and School Environment categories have seen decreases of over 55%. This indicates that that group of potential students faced less pressure on the home and study front in 2021 than in 2020. It also reflects the decline in QTAC applications from the non-year 12 market, from the pandemic-inspired high in 2020 for 2021 admissions. 

1  Reference  Davidson, P., (2022) A tale of two pandemics: COVID, inequality and poverty in 2020 and 2021 ACOSS/UNSW Sydney Poverty and Inequality Partnership, Build Back Fairer Series, Report No. 3, Sydney