Here’s what we can do about the high university drop out rate

There are steps we can take to deal with the problem of the high university drop out rate.

Dropping out of university is a needless waste of time, talent and money. One in every 11 domestic students who commenced a bachelor’s degree in 2019 never came back after the first year, based on the federal Education Department’s latest data.

This should ring alarm bells as 32,000 students left with nothing but debt, discouragement and disengagement from the education system.

We are creating an endemic disadvantage for students who go university, drop out with a HECS/HELP (Higher Education Loan Program) debt and then flounder as they re-evaluate their options.

This can’t continue – but there is a solution through modernising the tertiary education system, consistent with recommendations from the Australian Universities Accord, chaired by Professor Mary O’Kane.

In the May 2024 Budget the Federal Government announced $27.7 million to improve tertiary harmonisation, including supporting better student pathways between vocational education and training (VET) and universities.

A transition to stackable, portable qualifications across both sectors needs to be fast-tracked, so that no more students are disadvantaged.

Firstly, students should be awarded a diploma for completing their first year of study at university, regardless of whether they continue to finish a full bachelor’s degree. Should they decide to defer study or depart – be it for financial, personal or academic reasons – they will leave with a useful and recognised qualification and an open door to return to university in future.

The traditional bachelor’s degree is in danger of redundancy. As artificial intelligence transforms the world of work, some coursework in technology-based degrees – such as information technology and engineering – can be out of date before a student graduates.

Students and employers are demanding stackable and flexible credentials. A diploma, awarded for a full year of study, could be the foundation stone of a stacked credential.

The most recent federal Education Department statistics, published in January, show that 9.33 per cent of university students never went back after the first year. This equates to 32,000 students who enrolled in a Bachelor’s degree in 2019, but dropped out during or after the first year. Another 42,000 students re-enrolled after the first year but dropped out within four years.

Had those students been credited with diploma for their first year of study, they would have left with a qualification.

While many universities already offer stand-alone diplomas, they need to be transferable between all institutions as a stepping stone to a full degree. Portable diplomas should be automatically incorporated into bachelor degrees and be the automatic exit point should a student not wish to continue after a year of study.

There would be a greater chance of those students returning to university later, without feeling they have failed for “dropping out”.

To do this, universities would need to redesign degrees with a common denominator of study that can be transferred across disciplines. This would create a more standardised first year within disciplines that allows students to exit with a diploma or credit the year towards a discipline-specific major.

A student who signs up to nursing, for example, might springboard to medicine or paramedicine, on the basis of a set of first-year science and physiology papers. A first-year business degree might include introductory papers on economics, accounting and law, allowing students to enter the workforce with a business diploma or step sideways into a law degree.

The first year of an education degree could be peeled off into a diploma of education support, or a diploma of early childhood education, to provide the much-needed workforce in schools and childcare. Students who quit after a year can hit the ground running with a stand-alone qualification, and the option to go back to university and continue with a full teaching degree.

Many students who drop out might have been better directed down a vocational education and training pathway, such as an apprenticeship or a shorter diploma or certificate qualification through a TAFE or a private education college.

During my 13 years as chief executive of the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Authority, I introduced the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) system to Queensland in 2020. I designed the ATAR in Queensland to allow students to include a VET subject, studied while at school, to contribute to their ATAR score.

While students electing this option are unlikely to achieve a very high ATAR, I wanted to send a signal that VET is an important and viable pathway to further education. This keeps students engaged at school, and leaves open their options to take a vocational or academic pathway post-school.

VET has for too long been seen as a second-choice option. Nothing could be further from the truth. VET provides real-life qualifications for students and should be seen as complementing a university qualification, rather than being in direct competition.

We must encourage students to progress from VET to university, and from university to VET. Sadly, they are presented as binary options.

Australia needs more dual-sector institutions, which combine university and TAFE. As an example, Central Queensland University absorbed the Central Queensland Institute of TAFE in Rockhampton. It offers engineering laboratories, as well as trade workshops.

However, for the most part, the university and VET sectors run on parallel tracks.

The VET sector has consistent rules for credit transfers, making it easier for graduates to have their skills and qualifications recognised for further study. But many university students struggle to find clear and upfront information about credit transfers, and may be left at the mercy of individual academics when it comes to recognising prior study. A student in engineering, for example, may lose six months’ or more worth of study credits if they switch institutions. This comes at a cost to individual students, as well as a country stricken by skills shortages.

Dr John Griffiths is director of Educatus, an educational advisory and consulting practice.