Uni drop-out rates hit record high for Australian students

Domestic students are dropping out of their degrees at record rates. See which courses are the hardest hit.

The Institute of Public Affairs found that 25 per cent of domestic students who commenced a bachelor’s degree in 2017 had dropped out by 2022.

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Australian students are dropping out of university at record rates, with just 62 per cent completing a degree within six years.

An Institute of Public Affairs analysis found that 25 per cent of domestic students who commenced a bachelor’s degree in 2017 had dropped out by 2022.

Only 62 per cent had graduated within six years, and 13 per cent were still studying.

Overseas students – who pay full tuition fees and cannot access student loans through HECS/HELP - were more likely to finish their degrees.

Over six years, 19 per cent dropped out of their studies, 79 per cent graduated and 2 per cent were still enrolled.

The analysis, based on federal Education Department data, exposes a growing reliance on revenue from foreign students.

Between 2000 and 2022, the number of overseas students in Australian universities surged from 95,000 to nearly 450,000.

International students made up 29 per cent of university enrolments in 2022, compared with 14 per cent in 2000.

The IPA analysis found that “a large and growing cohort’’ of domestic students was failing to finish university. “(This) means they are incurring a financial cost through HELP (Higher Education Loan Program) debt without securing their qualification,’’ it states.

“The university model in Australia has shifted away from education and towards the business of maximising revenue, which has led to declining standards and the prioritising of international over domestic students.’’

The federal government is trying to pass legislation to cap new international student enrolments next year at 270,000 – roughly in line with 2023 levels.

The IPA blamed the rise of remote learning, lower academic standards and the deterioration of on-campus culture for the rising numbers of Australian students quitting university without a qualification.

“The current model is perpetuating a cycle where higher overseas student numbers are negatively impacting the university culture, which has led to a higher number of domestic student dropouts which, in turn, encourages a greater reliance on overseas students,’’ it states.

Barely half the domestic students who started a teaching degree in 2017 graduated by 2022 – down from 70.3 per cent of those enrolled between 2005 and 2010.

Medicine had the highest completion rate of 91 per cent, along with 88 per cent for dentistry.

One in three nursing students, 41 per cent of engineering students, 38 per cent of law students and 44 per cent of psychology students who started in 2017 had failed to graduate six years later.

IPA research fellow Brianna McKee said the data showed Australian universities had become “degree factories for international students’’.

“This may be profitable for vice-chancellors but we are seeing Australian students drop out in record numbers,’’ she said.

The findings coincide with new data that shows Australia has become the most popular destination for inter­national students, based on a worldwide survey of 6000 prospective students, to be released by international student placement company IDP on Wednesday.

It found 24 per cent of students favoured Australia, compared with 23 per cent choosing the US, 21 per cent Britain, 16 per cent Canada and 5 per cent hoping to study in New Zealand.

IDP’s Emerging Futures report reveals that student enrolment caps enforced by Canada, and planned by Australia, are turning students away.

“The long-term drivers in international education remain strong, but we can see the impact policy changes are having on ­Australia, Canada and the UK, (which) are now behind the US for perceptions of quality, value for money and graduate employment opportunities,’’ Simon Emmett, IDP Connect chief executive, said.