Media Releases 2005

10 June 2005

20,000 Australians still miss out on a university place in 2005

Almost 20,000 people missed out on a university place this year, the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC) said today at the release of its 2005 Report on Applications for Undergraduate University Courses.

AVCC President Professor Di Yerbury observed that although the figure of 19,600 was down from 2003 and 2004 when more than 35,000 aspiring students missed out on a place, it was still a major cause of concern.

“The drop in unmet demand in 2005 stems from two factors. Firstly, the number of applications for university places fell by more than 7,000 to 221,558,” Professor Yerbury said.

“Secondly, this year an additional 9,936 Commonwealth-funded places were allocated in 2005, significantly increasing the number of places available.

“However, it is important to realise that of the 9,936 additional places, 9,100 were to compensate for the phasing out of over-enrolments, while 368 were earmarked for the national priority area of nursing and 468 for medicine places,” she said.

“Despite these extra Commonwealth-funded places, it is still disappointing to see almost 20,000 Australians not being offered a place at university.

“This report clearly shows that a further increase in the number of Commonwealth-supported places is needed,” Professor Yerbury said.

“The AVCC recommends new places should increase each year from 2005 to reach a total of 500,000 Commonwealth-supported places by 2010.

“This will keep us on track for the AVCC’s vision for 2020 in which more than 60 per cent of Australians will complete a higher education degree in their lifetime. Currently this figure is over 40 per cent,” Professor Yerbury said.

The AVCC’s annual report on applications for undergraduate higher education courses examines the current year’s activities and provides data for predicting trends in higher education.

“We need to decrease even further the levels of unmet demand,” Professor Yerbury said.

“This will be a challenge because the main feeder group to universities is school leavers. The size of this age group has been stable for several years, but will grow by about five per cent in the next five years.

“If Year 12 retention rates remain at present levels, the demand for university places will continue to grow. If additional places are not available, we will see a steady increase in the level of unmet demand.

“One of the most important conclusions to be drawn from this report is that the Government must now consider funding additional places to ensure all Australians are given a fair opportunity to access university study,” Professor Yerbury said.

-ENDS-

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