Open Universities Australia ABN 97 053 431 888
Submission from Open Universities Australia to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Geographical Differences in the Rate in which Victorian Students Participate in Higher Education
Contact : Mr Stuart Hamilton Chief Executive Officer Open Universities Australia Level 1, 131 Queens St Melbourne
03 86282502 [email protected]
1 Parliamentary Inquiry Terms of Reference
Submissions from relevant stakeholders to the Inquiry were requested on the following areas.
a) variations in the number and type of university applications, offers, acceptances and completions in different metropolitan, rural and regional areas; b) influences of school retention rates, including enrolments and completions for VCE,VCAL and Vet in schools on participation in higher education; c) influences of participation in other post-school pathways, including TAFE enrolments and take-up of apprenticeships or other employment opportunities, on participation in higher education: d) potential geographic, economic, social, cultural and other influences on university applications, offers, acceptances and completions across Victorian communities; e) advantages and disadvantages of participation and non-participation in higher education on skills shortages and the Victorian economy; f) potential effects of geographical differences in participation in higher education on skills shortages and the Victorian economy; and g) strategies to address any barriers contributing to geographic differences in participation in higher education.
As our experience is with providing open access to higher education Open Universities Australia (OUA) will focus on providing comment on section (g)
Our submission will outline the role of Open Universities Australia and how OUA studies have historically been able to address barriers which contribute to geographic differences in participation in higher education. It will provide comment on the previous challenges in communicating the message about the opportunities of OUA studies particularly in regional areas. It will also expand on the role of FEE-HELP in broadening access to higher education.
About Open University Australia
Open Universities Australia (OUA), Australia’s open access national flexible higher education provider is owned by seven leading Australian universities, Curtin University of Technology, Griffith University, Macquarie University, Monash University, RMIT University, Swinburne University and University of South Australia. Our students are not offered a place in a course but are able to enroll in units which if successfully completed allow them to be credited to a range of degrees achievable entirely through higher education studies available through Open Universities Australia.
Indeed, our cross-crediting approach means that students do not have to make up their mind which undergraduate degree they will aim for until they have a completed a number of units successfully. While students have between eight and ten years to complete their undergraduate studies to be eligible for a qualification they are not required to study very study period or provide an explanation for any required break from continuous study. Combined with our four Study Periods per year, the lack of administrative barriers gives extraordinary student study option flexibility.
OUA’s flexible approach makes studying higher education through us particularly suitable for
2
adult learners, particularly in early career or in career transition, who need to combine work and study. learners whose personal background mean they are unable to access conventional study pathways. remote and regional learners. school leavers unable to access higher education. learners wishing to combine study with family responsibility.
Postgraduate studies through have much of the same flexibility. However, given the nature of postgraduate studies a number of the units available through OUA have prerequisites, either and undergraduate degree or appropriate workplace experience. Extensively delivered online they are ideally suited to study outside the metropolitan area.
Students can also obtain credit transfer towards qualifications achieved through on- campus study or use successful completion of units through OUA to apply for an on- campus place.
While direct transfer to on-campus studies from OUA studies is not available students apply through the relevant Tertiary Admissions Centre. Successful completion of units offered through Open Universities Australia will improve student chances of receiving an offer from preferred universities and for many universities is a designated alternate pathway to on-campus studies. At Monash University, for example, successful completion of at least two single units through Open Universities Australia studies will meet the minimum undergraduate entry requirements. Students receive credit for the study already completed.
The nature of the credit transfer is assessed on an individual basis and varies from degree to degree. Student need to confirm with the university concerned the exact credit transfer available. Credit transfer of Open Universities Australia units towards another qualification currently undertaken on campus generally requires written approval from a home university.
Through the range of pathways it opens up for all Australians whatever their background, OUA has already provided a pathway to successful higher education studies for many Victorians.
Wide Range of Higher Education Programs
OUA provides access to a wide and expanding range of programs. Qualifications in the following areas can be achieved through OUA studies (including qualifications in areas of skills shortage including teaching and nursing):
Undergraduate
Arts (art history, Australian studies, communications, history and politics, literature and composition, sociology,. cultural and critical studies, philosophy) Internet Studies Criminology and Criminal Justice Security, Terrorism and Counter-terrorism
3 Business or Business Studies,
Life Sciences Sports Administration Commercial Law Communication Community Development Financial Planning General Studies Nursing Applied Sciences Computing Studies Logistics and Supply Chain Management Information Systems Visual Arts
Postgraduate
Australian Folklife Studies Writing Business Administration (MBA Executive) Business Enterprise Business Management Commerce Communication Criminology and Criminal Justice Technical Writing Design Secondary Education Employment Law Tertiary Teaching Health Industry Management Health Promotion Industrial Relations International Health Juris Doctor Linguistics Marketing Technology Management Philosophical Studies Policing, Terrorism and Counter Terrorism Policy and Applied Social Research Project Management Public Sector Leadership Applied Statistics Taxation Urban Planning
4 Reaching Potential Students
OUA devotes a significant effort in communicating the message about the opportunities available through Open Universities Australia using a range of media including television advertising. Our handbook is available through newsagents and bookshops throughout Australia and we have an extensive and informative website at http://ww.open.edu.au Students can select their units and enroll on line or contact our Student Advisors over the phone for both advice and enrolment. All libraries, secondary schools and leading businesses in Australia are sent a copy of the OUA handbook each year and accompanying information. OUA also attends relevant conferences for Careers Counsellors and Human Relations Manager to communicate with the wider community about the OUA. In April 2008, for example, representatives will be attending Australian Association of Careers Counsellors Conference in Hobart.
A number of initiatives, including local newspaper advertising, publicity campaigns and local contact points in rural and regional areas have been undertaken since OUA was founded. These targeted regional activities and newspaper advertising have proved to be problematical in expanding our regional and rural student base. Research has indicated students tend to be aware of OUA through generic advertising campaigns and increasingly through the internet. Television advertising, in particular, is very successful in creating awareness. In late 2007 and early 2008 (including the 2007 Christmas and New Year period), Open Universities Australia broadened its television advertising reach beyond Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to include Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong and Hobart. There was also cinema advertising in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
This significantly increased awareness in areas outside Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney our traditional marketing targets. In the new areas covered by the television campaign awareness of OUA rose from 22% in July 2007 to 36% in February 2008. Enrolments in those areas have risen commensurately.
This suggests that a government television campaign in provincial and regional areas focusing on alternate pathways could increase both awareness of higher education and the varied routes that can be taken to achieve a qualification.
The introduction of FEE-HELP (see discussion in Serving the Victorian Community) also appears to have had significant impact on the uptake of OUA studies in rural and regional Victoria.
The Role of FEE-HELP and Austudy
FEE-HELP is the loan scheme available to Australian citizens and those holding a permanent humanitarian visa (resident in Australia) to help pay fees for all or part of undergraduate, postgraduate or enabling units. The Commonwealth Government pays the amount of the loan directly to Open Universities Australia. Students then repay the loan through the taxation system once their income exceeds the minimum threshold.
FEE-HELP which allow students to defer the payment of their fees and pay it back through the tax system makes OUA studies affordable for all Australians. Students who enroll in two units a study period, the equivalent of full time study,
5 and who fulfill all other eligibility criteria are also eligible for Austudy or Abstudy. For the purposes of Austudy or Abstudy payments Australian citizens and permanent residents living in Australia over 25 years of age undertaking two undergraduate units in a study period are regarded as undertaking an approved full-time course at an approved institution. In 2007 about 66% of our undergraduate and about 68% of our postgraduate enrolments accessed Fee- HELP as a payment method. Once students know about the potential of OUA studies they do have an accessible payment method.
The Commonwealth Government has indicated to OUA that whatever the changes with regard to fee-paying places in public universities, FEE-HELP will be retained for OUA studies.
Serving the Victorian Community
Since OUA has provided a route to higher education studies for Victorian students who may miss out on, or do not choose to take up, a Commonwealth supported place. In 2007, for example, just over 30% of our Australian based students came from Victoria.
This is significantly above the Victorian proportion of the overall Australian population (24.90% in 2001 Census). In this sense, Victoria is over-represented in the OUA student profile. This may be because: • we are headquartered in Victoria (unlikely, the location of our office is irrelevant to students who conduct all their business with us by free call phone or internet) • we have more provider universities in Victoria than in other States (may contribute at the margin as Victorian students are more likely to recognise more of the names and thus be attratced to study with us) • the overall recognised higher education participation rate in Victoria (the most likely explanation).
State-by-state participation of OUA students compared with total populations is shown in Table 1 below.
Details of OUA enrolments in Victoria in 2007 are contained in Table 2
The following patterns concerning OUA enrolments in Victoria can be discerned:
• OUA attracts significant student in regional Victoria (17.8% of all Victorian student enrolments in 2007) • 3.10% of the Victorian students are in remote or outer regional areas. • Remote and regional students in the 20-29 age bracket are the least likely to be studying through OUA. • Female remote and regional students are more likely to be studying through OUA. • Older remote and regional Victorian students make up a greater proportion of the OUA Victorian student. They are significantly greater than the proportion of the Victorian population. • In the 15-19 age range, the remote and regional school leaver group is a significant group of OUA students in Victoria in 2007 (6.38 % of the 15-19
6 cohort). This has increased from 4.58% in 2006 and in the range of 3% in 2005. 2005 was the year that FEE-HELP, the current government higher education loans scheme relevant to OUA studies, was introduced. Open Learning Deferred payment Scheme (OLDPS), the earlier government loans scheme was less flexible in that it did not cover the full cost of tuition fees and was not applicable to part-time study
The provision of FEE-HELP enabling students to borrow the full cost of OUA units and pay back the loan through the tax system appears to be contributing to the growing appeal of OUA studies to school leavers, especially in remote and regional Victoria. This is suggested by the fact that earlier efforts to specifically target the school leaver both in the regions, and in Melbourne, had little response in enrolments prior to the introduction of FEE-HELP.
Table 1: OUA Students All States % of % of OUA Australian based Students Population figures population ( 2007 enrolment figures) STATE (2001 Census ( 2001 Census) ACT 314,171 1.62 2.86 NSW 6,532,459 33.62 35.83 NT 197,590 1.02 1.53 QLD 3.627.816 18.70 16.78 SA 1.502.397 7.75 5.86 TAS 470.272 2.43 1.43 VIC 4,828,968 24.90 30.84 WA 1.909,751 9.85 5.04 Total 19, 400,000
Table 2: OUA students in Victoria in 2007
Melbourne Regions Total (Melbourne % % and Victorian Students Students Regions) in All Remote Regions and and Outer Remote Regions
Males Victoria 2007 < 15 1 0 1 0% 0% 15-19 112 28 140 20% 6% 20-24 779 111 890 12.36% 2.03% 25-29 742 72 814 8.85% 1% 30-34 536 67 603 11.11% 1.33% 35-39 272 47 319 14.74% 2.83% 40-44 153 31 184 16.31% 2.18% 45-49 98 25 123 20% 2.44%
7 50-54 36 7 43 16.28% 2.33% 55-59 22 17 39 43.59% 6.30% 60+ 17 17 34 50% 25.53% Total students (male) 2768 422 3190 13.23% 2.17% Females Victoria 2007 < 15 1 0 1 0% 0% 15-19 146 59 205 28.78% 7.32% 20-24 1029 28 1246 2.17% 2.81% 25-29 892 143 1035 13.82% 2.61% 30-34 552 127 679 18.56% 4.13% 35-39 322 116 438 26.49% 2.74% 40-44 191 75 266 28.20% 4.52% 45-49 133 60 193 31.09% 6.22% 50-54 73 33 106 31.14% 10.38% 55-59 32 14 46 30.44% 13.05% 60+ 18 11 29 37.94% 10.35% Total students (female) 3389 855 4244 20.15% 3.80% All Students Victoria 2007 < 15 2 0 2 0% 0% 15-19 258 87 345 25.22% 6.38% 20-24 1808 327 2136 15.31% 0.06% 25-29 1634 215 1849 11.63% 1.90% 30-34 1088 193 1282 15.06% 2.81% 35-39 594 163 757 21.54% 2.78% 40-44 344 105 450 23.34% 3.56% 45-49 231 85 316 26.90% 4.75% 50-54 109 40 149 26.85% 8.06% 55-59 54 31 85 36.47% 10.59% 60+ 35 28 63 44.45% 17.46% Total students 6157 1277 7434 17.18% 3.10%
Conclusion
Higher education studies through OUA provide a unique pathway for Victorians to access higher education wherever they live. The more flexible FEE-HELP loan scheme has provided the catalyst for many more Victorians living in the regions to undertake studies to achieve qualifications or for professional or personal development. The increased awareness achieved by television advertising for OUA’s unique opportunities suggests the value of a directed government advertising campaign on regional television. A focus on the values and varieties of higher of higher education opportunities in such a campaign would increase awareness and take-up in the regions and help redress imbalances in the take-up rate for higher education.
8