Griffith President Professor Carolyn Evans reveals sharp drop in numbers taking ‘critical’ courses
The head of a leading Queensland university has revealed a sharp drop in the number of school leavers signing up for courses, with two ‘critical’ areas most affected.
Gold Coast
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Schools and hospitals are facing a staffing crisis, with a hefty decline in the number of school leavers applying to start university courses in the sectors, a university boss warns.
Griffith University Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans said student numbers had plummeted across the university sector with health and education worst affected.
“Unfortunately we are seeing a real decline in higher education in this country, in the state and even more pointedly in the city,” Professor Evans told the audience at a Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce event on Wednesday.
“We have had three years of decline of Australian students starting to come into universities. And off that low base this year, across Queensland, a five per cent decline of QTAC applications.
“In Brisbane that’s just three per cent, not great, but manageable. Here on the Gold Coast it’s eight per cent.
“And the biggest falls are in nursing, health services and teaching. Absolutely critical areas.”
Professor Evans said Queensland could not rely on bringing in people from overseas to fill the gap, instead needing to produce more homegrown graduates.
“The universities and the TAFEs here have been doing a great job of doing that, historically,” she said.
“But we are seeing a really substantial decline and we really have to reverse that.”
Prof Evans said much of the decline could be attributed to the low unemployment rate on the Gold Coast, which allowed students to go straight into employment after school.
However she cautioned young people what might look like a good wage at 18 may not seem so attractive at 30.
Prof Evans also revealed universities had also seen a levelling off in the number of international students signing up after a “big spike” last year.
“The contribution we make to the community is through education and at the moment that is looking pretty grim this year,” she said.
COUNCIL CEO’S WARNING ON POPULATION BOOM
Gold Coast council CEO Tim Baker says wondering how the Gold Coast will cope with a population surge equal to the size of Hobart by 2032 is keeping him awake at night.
Mr Baker doubled down on previous remarks about residents needing to axe a reliance on cars and embrace public transport, when speaking at a Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Wednesday.
Ord Minnett investment strategist Malcolm Wood was the keynote speaker but Mr Baker said: “As a city we have to continue to invest in public transport. The thing that keeps me up more than anything else at night as the CEO of your city is we are growing fast and those crunches are coming and we have to manage that really carefully.
“The population of my old town Hobart is moving here within the next nine years. The population of the capital city of Tasmania is moving to the Gold Coast.
“We have to manage that growth incredibly carefully.”
The Bulletin has recently highlighted how explosive growth north of the Coomera River has led to daily gridlock in the Coomera and Pimpama.
Mr Baker said the traffic snarl had led to longer commute times from those areas.
“If you live in Pimpama and you work at The Star, five to six years ago that was a 45 minute commute. That’s an hour and twenty minutes now,” he said. “If there’s a crash along the way, it’s a two-hour commute.
“How we in the city help you to protect your way of life is critical to what we do every day.
“That’s the challenge: how do we manage that growth? How do we embrace that growth? Growth is good, as long as it’s managed appropriately.”
Light Rail Advisory Group chair Stephen Harrison said trams had helped deliver a shift towards public transport on the Gold Coast.
“The numbers are unquestionable. People have voted with their feet. The reliability of Gold Coast light rail is unprecedented. It’s not being matched anywhere in the world. That’s amazing to me,” he said.
But Mr Harrison said more needed to be done.
“It’s not just about light rail, it’s about the Coomera Connector, it’s about further infrastructure throughout the northern Gold Coast, where particularly there’s a lot of growth,” he said.
“How we (create) an overall vision of an affordable public transport network.”
Despite opposition from some, Mr Baker said building light rail to the airport made “a lot of sense”.
“(The percentage) of trips in this city taken by car is one of the highest in the country. It’s just not sustainable any more,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean I want everyone to lose their car.
“What I mean is we need to invest in public transport and provide an integrated public transport solution.
“Rail is part of that. We are a large linear city. Running rail down the guts of that city makes a hell of a lot of sense.”
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