Forty arts students and one engineer: What NSW politicians studied at uni

Three in four NSW state politicians are university-educated, mostly in arts and law and only a handful hold STEM or health qualifications.

A Herald analysis of politicians’ tertiary education shows 73 per cent (98 of 135) politicians in the upper and lower houses of NSW parliament hold a bachelor’s degree or a higher qualification. Just over a quarter (28 per cent) of people in NSW have at least a bachelor’s degree.

A bachelor of arts was the most popular undergraduate degree of choice, completed by 40 politicians, while 33 studied business, commerce or economics and 32 studied law, highlighting the well-trodden path from humanities into politics.

Nine politicians in parliament have STEM backgrounds: eight studied a science discipline and just one politician, Edmond Atalla, the Labor member for Mount Druitt in western Sydney, is a qualified engineer.

University of Canberra political historian John Hawkins said the dominance of humanities degrees and the dearth of diversity in areas of study could be attributed in part to the growing prevalence of career politicians in parliament.

“They go to university, they engage in student politics there, then they work for either an MP or a trade union if they’re Labor or a right-wing think tank if they’re Liberal, work in parliament, and then become a politician,” he said.

“The days when you had people like [former Labor prime minister] Ben Chifley, who had been a train driver before he got into parliament, have gone.

“But the wider [politicians’] backgrounds, the more interesting, and a better-informed space parliament can be.”

Greens health spokeswoman and Legislative Council member Amanda Cohn is one of 10 politicians in office who studied a health discipline at university.

Cohn was a GP in regional NSW and a frontline emergency services volunteer before entering parliament.

NSW Greens MLC and health spokeswoman Dr Amanda Cohn studied medicine at the University of NSW. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Opposition spokesperson for skills, TAFE and tertiary education Justin Clancy studied veterinary science at the University of Sydney. He previously ran his own clinics in Albury and Wodonga.

Two in three MPs in the lower house have a bachelor’s degree, compared with four in five in the upper house.

A quarter of NSW politicians also completed postgraduate study. Four have PhDs and 29 have masters degrees.

Labor member of the Legislative Assembly Sarah Kaine titled her doctoral thesis “Managing labour in the residential aged care sector”. Coogee MP Marjorie O’Neill wrote hers on the late-life career choices of older workers.

Forty politicians in NSW parliament are alumni of the University of Sydney. Credit: Louise Kennerley

The top institution of choice was the University of Sydney. It has 40 alumni in state parliament, followed by the University of NSW and Macquarie University with 14 and 13 respectively.

Group of Eight universities dominate the list: 62 of the 98 politicians with degrees attended one of these top institutions.

A handful of politicians also attended prestigious universities overseas: Premier Chris Minns studied public policy at Princeton in the US and Opposition Leader Mark Speakman studied law at Cambridge in Britain.

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