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Increasing competition for university and the challenge of access for government school students--a case study.

Article Excerpt
There is a wide variety of universities, university campuses and university courses in Australia available to those interested in pursuing a higher education degree. This paper examines the impact of increasing competition for entrance to university on the educational outcomes for students from the government school sector. Using Melbourne as a case study, the research shows that, over a four-year period of increased competition, entry to some of the more academically accessible university campuses in the city became more difficult and this disproportionately affected the opportunities for university entrance among some groups. Despite the fact that there was no noticeable change in the academic standards achieved by government school completers, the rate at which government school students gained access to these universities declined noticeably during this time. These findings show how changes in supply of university places from year to year can have a profound effect on the opportunities of secondary-school completers--particularly those in more educationally disadvantaged settings.

Keywords

university admission

university bound students

competition

school systems

disadvantage

achievement

Introduction

University study is a goal considered by many young people in Australia (James, 2002). Gaining access to the institutions that provide it is a process that culminates at the end of secondary school. The ability to access courses and universities of choice is generally dictated by the level of the tertiary entrance score students gain by completing secondary school. This paper shows that, in one metropolitan setting across a four-year time period, a shift in supply of university places had a profound effect on accessibility to individual universities. Entrance scores for some universities rose noticeably over this short period. This was particularly the case in universities catering to a substantial number of government school students. The result of these changes was a decline in educational opportunity for a large cohort of these Year 12 completers.

This paper highlights the unintended consequences that changes in supply and demand have on the composition of the student body within universities. The metropolis of Melbourne is used as a case study to illustrate these dynamics. While the institutional and geographical settings discussed in this paper are unique to this locality, there is scope for generalising these results across most mainland capital cities in Australia. As in Melbourne, the mainland state capitals of Australia all have a number of different universities and campuses, serving students from a range of social, economic and cultural backgrounds. The entrance process to universities across the country is relatively uniform, as is the structure of the school system. Thus the issues highlighted here remain pertinent--and could potentially be replicated--across all major metropolitan areas in Australia.

In the contest for university places, some students excel, while others struggle. Australian research has shown that success in Year 12 has much to do with intelligence (Marks et al., 2001). There are also other background characteristics and school factors that influence final outcomes in Year 12 (Edwards, 2007b; Edwards et al., 2005; James et al., 1999; Kirby, 2000; Lamb, 2007; Lamb et al., 2004; Rothman & McMillan, 2003; Teese, 2000; Teese & Polesel, 2003; Thomson, 2002; Vinson, 2002).

This paper does not aim to expand on the literature identifying the relative impact of background and school factors on educational outcomes. Instead, it focuses on the supply of university places across Melbourne and shows how changes in this supply over a four-year period had a severe impact on the educational opportunities of government school students. The findings show that the provision of university places can play a substantial role in determining which students gain an offer and which students miss out each year. Additionally, the paper highlights the profound effect that the dynamics of supply and demand can have on the composition of an individual university's student body.

In this paper, the outcomes of Year 12 completers between 2000 and 2003 have been used to illustrate the impact of increasing demand and decreasing supply on university access in a metropolitan setting. This time frame has been used because it was one in which there was notable change in these dynamics in Victoria; as Table 2 shows, during this time Year 12 enrolments in Victoria increased by 7.3 per cent, while the number of university places being offered to Year 12 completers in Victoria declined by 7.5 per cent (discussed in more detail below). The time series used here should be also viewed as case study that could be applied across any recent time period where notable supply--demand shifts in the provision of university places have been apparent. The substantial change in Victoria over the 2000-03 period allows for close examination of the impact of growing competition on the composition of university student bodies and the consequences for educational accessibility. In the years since 2003, there has been a slight increase in the number of places provided for school leavers in Victoria and a decrease in the number of Year 12 students applying for universities, thus lessening the impact highlighted here and making these more recent years less pertinent to the factors that are the focus of this paper.

Gaining an offer to university in Victoria

University places in Australia are fiercely contested...

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