Growing Australian Higher Education: Achieving Targets and Rethinking Provision

Higher education in Australia has been following a growth trajectory unmatched for the past 20 years. This paper shows that while the recent growth in university enrolments over the past few years has been facilitated by the federal government’s demand-driven funding policy, private providers have also been expanding and contributing to the overall national aims of increasing attainment. With the 2013 initial university offer figures showing a slowing of growth in universities for the first time since demand driven funding was announced, the role of non-universities in maintaining the growth trajectory for higher education, as well as helping to achieve key attainment and participation targets, is heightened. This paper suggests that now is the time for considering the role that private providers and TAFEs will play in the Australian higher education sector in the coming decades.