Tasmanian university students vote with their feet

Local student enrolments have fallen 12pc at the University of Tasmania, as more Tasmanian school leavers opt for mainland institutions.

Pam Sharpe of the Save UTAS campus group. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Local student enrolments have fallen 12pc at the University of Tasmania, as more Tasmanian school leavers opt for mainland institutions.

Sources told The Australian there had been a 10-20 per cent drop in enrolments by Tasmanians across many faculties for 2023.

UTAS confirmed an overall 12 per cent fall in local enrolments, from 2705 in 2022 to 2380 in 2023.

The shift is a blow for the embattled UTAS, the state’s only university, which had focused on boosting local enrolments after Covid-19 decimated overseas student numbers.

Critics blame the decline in local enrolments on concerns about UTAS’ shift from its main Sandy Bay site to Hobart’s CBD, and an increased focus on online teaching.

However, UTAS sources attribute the dip to more local students spreading their wings after Covid restrictions, as well as economic headwinds seeing more locals defer enrolment.

It comes as UTAS prepares for more potentially damaging parliamentary hearings into its governance, in the wake of staff surveys and allegations – denied by senior management – of a bullying and controlling management culture.

The group fighting the university’s city move, Save UTAS Campus, said the drop in locals enrolling reflected disquiet at the shift from the Sandy Bay campus and associated online learning.

“UTAS has a bad reputation at this stage and I think a lot of people have lost trust in the institution,” said group co-chair and former UTAS academic Pam Sharpe.

She was aware of students who believed that if they were going to do a largely online-based degree, they might as well do it via a more prestigious university on the mainland.

However, Craig Barling, UTAS vice-president (strategy, finance and marketing) said the university was overall tracking relatively well and on a par with its performance pre-Covid.

“Our interstate student enrolments are up by almost 1000 on 2019, the most recent year free of the impacts of Covid,” Mr Barling said. “International student numbers have grown since last year and we are confident they are on track to return to pre-Covid levels.

“Interest from Tasmanian students also remains high and enrolments, though slightly lower, are on par with 2019 pre-Covid levels. In total, we have almost 8000 commencing students, which exceeds our 2019 number.”

UTAS plans to complete its shift to Hobart CBD from its main Sandy Bay campus and develop the prime site for housing, providing it with an independent revenue stream.

The proposal has met a wave of opposition, with concern about the loss of a traditional campus, lack of lecture and specialist learning spaces and traffic and other impacts.

However, Mr Barling said university enrolments nationally were being hit by virtually full employment, high inflation and rising costs of living, particularly in regional areas.

Added to that, extra places for short courses during Covid drove up numbers significantly.

“In this context, our Tasmanian enrolments, while down on last year, reflect the trends around the country,” he said.