Productivity Commission report finds schools fail to prepare uni students

Schools are failing to prepare Australian students for university and the jobs of the future as literacy and numeracy skills face “sharp falls”, the Productivity Commission has found.

The Productivity Commission report found many university students were ill-prepared.

Schools are failing to prepare Australian students for university and the jobs of the future as literacy and numeracy skills face “sharp falls”, the Productivity Commission has found.

A report into university enrolments revealed that removing a cap on placements has boosted take-up, but many new students were ill-prepared and struggled.

It found the literacy and numeracy skills of school students — on the decline since 2003 — “should be of concern”, and could severely impact the university prospects of children from disadvantaged groups.

“It’s a clear challenge for policy,” Productivity Commission chair Michael Brennan said of the declining school skills.

“Schools do need to adapt from the world when university was a small, narrow and elite community to now, where 60 per cent of 22-year-olds go to uni,” he said.

School students’ declining literacy and numeracy skills was “a clear challenge”, the Productivity Commission found. Picture: AP

The removal of fiscal constraints on university placements between 2010 and 2017 was intended to boost access for under-represented groups and increase domestic student numbers.

And it did boost access.

The number of domestic bachelor degree students skyrocketed by a third after the changes, with government expenditure also rising from $6.4 billion to $9.3 billion in eight years.

Many new students were studying education, information technology and management.

But one in five of those students dropped out, compared to about one in 10 of other students, by the age of 23.

That came at a cost — the average fee for students who dropped out was $12,000, not considering forgone earnings or the cost to the taxpayer.

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The report into the ‘demand driven higher education system’ found many students who were able to access university under the changes were not academically prepared.

Three in four of the additional students had an Australian Tertiary Admission rank below 70, compared with one in four other students.

While more youngsters from low socio-economic backgrounds took up university because of the changes, other target groups were not impacted.
Rather, participation gaps for those from indigenous communities and remote and regional areas may even have widened.

Mr Brennan described the report as having “mixed” findings on the university cap changes, showing improved university access, higher dropout rates, graduates getting well-paying jobs, a weaker VET and labour market, and strong cash incentives for universities to enrol more students but little reason to support students.

The cap on placement funding was reintroduced last year due to cost concerns.

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