Young people are turning away from higher education. Now’s our chance to change that

The federal election provides a welcome opportunity for the Albanese government to reset and refocus its approach to higher education. Students and student-focused policy should drive this.

This requires a holistic vision. The challenges students face at university often begin in primary or high school, or even before. Too many students finish school with poor numeracy and literacy skills that leave them ill-equipped for the most productive work, let alone higher education.

Australia needs more university graduates to support new industries and emerging jobs. Credit: Louise Kennerley

In other cases, students are not finishing high school at all. Over a decade, the number of public school students completing year 12 fell by 10 per cent from 83 to 73 per cent, before a small uptick last year. This is one of many warning signs about the deterioration of our education system, especially for students most in need.

Australia’s education system should put students at the centre, ensuring those from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds have the same opportunities to succeed. Too often, entrenched disadvantage translates into educational deficit.

Australia needs more students graduating from university to support new industries and emerging jobs, but young people are turning away from higher education. This is most apparent in the groups for whom education is the key driver of prosperity and social mobility. From 2019 to 2023, there were 13 per cent fewer “first-in-family” students at university and 10 per cent fewer from low socio-economic status backgrounds.

It is not good enough to blame government for these outcomes. Every part of our educational system, including universities, must bear their share of responsibility and work together to turn things around.

The first, and most important, area starts with students’ needs. Students should be charged fair and reasonable fees for their university education. The Job-ready Graduates package introduced in 2021 attempted to use price signals to steer students away from the arts and humanities into areas of national labour shortage, such as maths, agriculture, and nursing.

The intervention failed, leaving us with a broken system. Students from poorer backgrounds are being priced out of university. The government’s $16 billion in HECS debt relief is welcome, but it does nothing for students new to the system. They still face unreasonable fees, including over $50,000 for a basic arts degree. This degree is charged the highest fees despite being the degree of choice for women and Indigenous students, and those from poorer backgrounds. Arts students also earn the lowest salaries upon graduation.

There are positive signs that the government will tackle this and restore fairness to student fees. It has signalled that fees will be taken up by the new Australian Tertiary Education Commission. There is no time for Education Minister Jason Clare to waste if we are to open our doors to more students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Second, one-size-fits-all international student caps are wreaking havoc. We welcome Julian Hill’s appointment as the assistant minister for international education. The government has made clear that caps on international students are here to stay, but the limits can be made fairer and less arbitrary. They can be tailored to the circumstances of each university.

Take Western Sydney University, for example. International student caps are designed to respond to the housing crisis, but we have a bed for every international student who wants one, along with 25 per cent spare capacity. Surely, the policy could account for the availability of accommodation for international students?

“We have a bed for every international student who wants one”: Western Sydney University vice-chancellor George Williams.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The policy could also reflect critical skill shortages. Many of the 1350 international students who studied nursing and midwifery with us in 2023 are now employed in hospitals across Western Sydney, helping to address the region’s critical nursing shortage that is projected to reach 10,000 this year. International student caps mean fewer nurses for Western Sydney over the coming years.

International student caps also harm Australian students. The income they provide subsidises critical services like food pantries and community dinners for our Australian students who would otherwise go hungry. Without extra government funding, universities are left with tough choices about what services to wind back.

And finally, the government can recommit to the ambition of the Australian Universities Accord. That document came on the back of an exhaustive nationwide consultation that set out a vision for the sector for the coming decades. It recognised that our future prosperity depends on highly skilled Australians able to thrive in a competitive international environment.

The accord called for the proportion of working people with a post-school qualification to increase from 60 per cent to 80 per cent by 2050. Those with a university degree aged 25 to 34 must rise from 45 per cent to 55 per cent. These ambitious goals require more people from low-SES, first-in-family, Indigenous, and regional and rural backgrounds to enter and succeed at university.

Our educational system is not geared to achieve these goals. In too many respects, it is stacked against students from poorer backgrounds succeeding at university. The accord recognises this and provides a much-needed blueprint for reform that puts our students and young people first.

Distinguished Professor George Williams is vice-chancellor of Western Sydney University.