Census 2021: Pandemic drives surge in post-school study

The quest for pandemic-proof careers drove a million Australians to upskill through further study in 2021, new Census data reveals, with one futuristic field of education growing the fastest.

Biomedicine graduate Julia Taylor has launched a career in science. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

Australians are better educated than ever, after more than a million workers upgraded their post-school qualifications last year to protect their jobs or change ­careers during the pandemic, census data reveals.

A record 11 million people in Australia now have a trade, tertiary or vocational qualification – a five-year upsurge of 20 per cent.

Pandemic skills shortages and the work-from-home revolution have steered more Australians into formal study, with 1.1 million tradies, trainees and university graduates last year upskilling through further post-school education to pandemic-proof careers.

Migrants are better educated than Australian-born residents, the 2021 census shows, reflecting Australia’s skills-based migration program.

Of Australian-born residents, 56 per cent hold a post-school qualification, compared with 63 per cent of migrants.

Indian and Bangladeshi migrants are the most highly educated, with four out of five holding a post-school qualification.

The census shows Indian-born workers dominate the information technology sector here.

Two-thirds of software and applications programmers were born overseas, with 24,000 arriving since 2016 – mostly from India.

The rise in cyber security threats throughout the Covid-19 pandemic made “security science’’ the fastest-growing field of study in Australia last year.

Qualifications in southern Asian languages – mainly Punjabi – have more than doubled since 2016, making it the third-fastest growing field of study.

Despite the chronic shortage of workers skilled in IT, business remains the most popular field of study for Australian adults, with 1.1 million students enrolled last year.

Teaching was the second-most popular study choice, with 836,000 enrolments in university degrees and short postgraduate training courses. Nursing overtook building as the third-most popular subject, with women making up 90 per cent of enrolments.

Biomedicine graduate Julia Taylor, 22, who works in project management at Melbourne virology and immunology laboratory 360biolabs, which researches and develops new medical treatments and vaccines, said unique new jobs were constantly being created in science and technology. “It’s so exciting – there are so many niche roles in science and I’m always finding out about jobs that I didn’t know existed,” she said.

As the census reveals a surge in post-school study, new federal Education Department research shows university graduates are finding work faster – and earning more money – than a year ago.

The 2022 Graduate Outcomes Survey shows 91.5 per cent of graduates were working full-time three years after completing their studies, and earning a median salary of $80,000 a year.

This compares with an 88.9 per cent employment rate, with a median salary of $77,000, last year.

Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson said “a university education sets people up for a fulfilling career with greater job security and higher pay’’.

She said, however, that cost was a barrier for some workers who could not afford tuition fees for university short courses, which are not eligible for the Higher Education Loan Program of financial support to students.

The Productivity Commission last week recommended the government extend student loans for university degrees to post-school qualifications such as diplomas, certificates and short courses.