Equity student participation in Australian higher education: 2013-2018

This NCSEHE briefing note reports on domestic undergraduate equity student participation in Australian higher education from 2013 to 2018. It focuses on trends among domestic undergraduate enrolments in Table A Provider institutions in identified equity groups: low socioeconomic status (Low SES) students; students with disability; Indigenous students; women in non-traditional areas (WINTA) students; regional students; remote students; non-English speaking background (NESB) students, also referred to as 'culturally and linguistically diverse' (CALD) students. All student data reported or derived for the purposes of this document are sourced from the Australian Government Department of Education (Australian Government Department of Education, 2019).

In 2018, there were 764,652 domestic undergraduate students enrolled in Australia. This represents an increase in enrolments of 12.6 per cent since 2013, with growth in 2018 being the lowest seen over this period, at 0.72 per cent compared to average growth of two per cent over the six years. Numbers of low SES students, students with disability and Indigenous students increased at a rate greater than that seen overall, while other equity groups saw lower growth rates. As a consequence, the change in share of student population - percentage point change (PPC) - was negative for the WINTA (-0.1 PPC), Regional (-0.9 PPC) and Remote (-0.04 PPC) student groups, and static in the case of NESB students (0.0 PPC).

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