public policy and in the pool from which students are 2. Results ENDS AN BIASES IN UNIVERSITY ENTRANTS: drawn are being reflected in the composition of (a) Sex student intakes at Monash. By a bias we mean a Figure 1 shows the trend that the percentage of ONASH 1970·1975 distinctly higher or lower percentage representation females in the student intake is increasing. This is of a category than in the population at large. Where not marked in all faculties, as in Engineering the Ron Siamowicz, Ann M. Smurthwaite & Leo H. T. West relevant, figures from the Victorian office of the percentage remains small, while in Arts it remains Australian Bureau of Statistics have been included high. The faculties of Medicine and Law, however. for comparison. show the most dramatic changes. in Medicine this is 1. Introduction Lee Dow et at. (1972) examining some characteristics most likely due to changes in the selection procedure The data is derived from a continuing survey con of entrants to the University of Melbourne 1969·1970, for Medicine that have occurred during the period In Victoria (throughout this article we refer only to ducted by the Higher Education Advisory and Resear a slightly later study than Fensham·s. similarly shown (1973-4). These comprise the compulsory Victoria) each year a greater percentage of the ch Unit at Monash and has been collected about the concluded: inclusion of English and allowing only one secondary school intake is staying on to complete six newly enrolling student population since 1969. The Despite the growtt) In enrolments in the final Mathematics subject in the score on which selection years of secondary school. For example, between data concerns the socio-educational background of secondary school year and the increases In the is based. In Law the rise in the percentage of females 1962 and 1972 the percentage of first form students students. This annual audit of new students is carried remaining till sixth form has risen from 19 percent to numbers who obtained tertiary education in Victoria may be due more to the greater acceptance now of during the 1960·s. the main finding of this survey IS out by means of a questionnaire handed out during women in the profession, so that for a female to 33 percent. This has been accompanied by a rising that the SOCial composition of students entering the the enrolment procedure. Apart from the initial year egalitarianism in secondary schools, with the choose to study Law is no longer regarded as University of Melbourne has hardly altered. (1969) a response rate of 80 percent and better has challenging traditions. The percentage of females secondary school population becoming more (p.95) been consistently obtained. representative of the general population. The entering university still remains less than the percentage share of the sixth form enrolments in In an article comparing entrants to Monash and percentage enrolled for HSC. which is itself Of course the Monash data is not necessarily increasing slightly. This can be explained partly by government schools, traditionally the sector most Melbourne Universities over the years 1970·1971, representative of the whole tertiary sector. Its open to socially and economically disadvantaged Smurthwaite (1974) observed few significant the greater numbers of females enrolling at teachers importance derives not from its representativeness, colleges. groups, has increased from 49 percent in 1962 to 58 differences between the universities - for example, but from its long term nature. Observation of changes percent in 1972. At the same time the retention rate of in family background measured by father's in the characteristics of tertiary entrants, and fig,2 % from type of school % students from first till sixth form in government occupation. locality and type of school from which inferences about the causes of such changes can be schools has increased from 13 percent in 1962 to 25 students came and the percentage of girls entering made with much more confidence if data is available percent in 1972. Another obvious area in which the each university, over a period of years rather than one or two years. secondary school population has become more like 50 - the population as a whole is in the increased There has been some recognition in academic and High percentage of girls staying on at school. The governmental circles that breaking the barrier percentage of girls enrolled in sixth form has risen between completion of secondary school and % f")lnole in i-iSC from 38 percent in 1962 to 47 percent in 1972. (Data entrance to university will require compensatory In 1972- prl,-olrnents for H SC are derived from annual bulletins - Statistics of measures. Perhaps the most notable step taken in In 19'72 L,70% Victoria: primary and secondary education. th'ls direct'lon was the attempt to alleviate financ'lal Australian Bureau of Statistics: Victorian Office). difficulty as a barrier to university entrance, by the abolition of fees under the Labor Government. It seems reasonable to expect changes in the sixth Anderson (1976) has argued from data based on an 35 35 form population to be mirrored in university intakes Australia wide survey of tertiary institutions that lee and so to expect similar trends towards increased abolition has increased the opportunity of certain Cuthotlc :'0 % participation in tertiary education by previously groups in the community to take up tertiary 30 [nd("p~ "disadvantaged" groups. The few studies which have education. Myers (1976) at La Trobe UniverSity 38 attempted to map the relationship between the considers fee abolition has allowed many mature age changing patterns of sixth form representation and students, particularly women, to take up university the socia-educational composition of Australian studies. 25 25 university intakes have indicated that such increased participation by disadvantaged groups has not Quite apart from concern to enhance the opportunity occurred. Fensham (1970) examined changes In the of disadvantaged students at sixth form level to enter 20 sixth form population in the light of entrants to the university, there has been recognition in some University of Melbourne over the sixties and quarters that many able students are lost to ~:oth()l!c concluded: universities earlier in the secondary school system. 15 Low IS .. the steady continuation of extended secondary In Victoria, Monash and La Trobe Universities have education through the 1960·s gave promise that acknowledged in a small way a commitment to further improvement (Irl wlderllng the franchise of equality of opportunity by allocating a small 10 10- universily entry) would follow, However, there now percentage of places each year for disadvantaged seems to be no escape from the conclUS'lon that after and early schoolleavers. ten years of quotas for uiliversity entry III Victoria this further improvement has not taken place. Restricted univerSity entry has erected barriers which The purpose of this article is to present selected data have prevented the changes at secondary level being showing possible trends and biases in the student rellected at unlverSlly population at Monash University over the period (p_1661 1970·1975 which may Indicate whether changes in 70 71 72 n 71.
16 17 (0) Type 01 School fig I., % Ir1 Lew frCin f if) , uf sr:i-' ·::1 No trends appear in this graph so it appears that fee may simply be a reflection of changes in social values Figure 2 shows the type of school where students .Yc, abolition alone measured in this way has no\. at least and so the greater social acceptability of claiming 'no have received most o'f their secondary education. As in the short term, altered the biases. There is a religion'. The nearly perfect correspondence between expected there is a bias towards students from {,Cj relationship between father's occupation and the increase in Church of England and decrease in the independent schools although this is decreasing. type of school attended, so that a bias because of 'no religion· category (and vice versa) supports this one factor may be the cause of a bias in the other explanation. It should be noted that the Census A more marked bias in favour of independent schools factor. For this reason Table 1 is presented showing figures for religion for Victoria are for the entire 35 H occurs in the faculties of Medicine and Law, and this H the relationship between father"s occupation and the population and that the distribution of religions is shown in Figures 3 and 4, These two are type of school for students entering Monash in 1975. among HSC students may be very different. For traditionally high-status faculties. It is interesting to instance, it would be expected that the percentage of 30 note that especially in Medicine, entrants from TABLE 1 Higher School Certificate students claiming no Catholic schools are getting much improved Iklation between "father's occupation" ~nd "type of sehGol" (1975). religion is greater than. the 7.3% figure for Victoria as representation, For comparison the percentages of The figures give the "umbers 1" each ot the cells as a percentag" of a whole. It is clear, also, that Jewish students are HSC enrolments at the three types of schools in 1972 25 c t.he row (Le. the type of father's o"cupet1o~) a~d as a percentage of th" (".Qh 40 10 7 J i I."Presbyt 10,1, ! 1 35 5.Methodlst 7 J 30 7' elJ 7S 25 flg.5 falher·s O(cuputlOn (fer key see Tab!r 1 I 0/c, 20 35 15 G/o male 30 CathoilC workforce 9·7 25 2 9·3 :1 43-3 lh,' article go",~ d'\r<5U;,'fltions in >liLle;, ,h,' 5 been o",ald. 20 5·3 '10 71 72 73 75 This table can be read to see the distribution of year "; g. Cl father's occupation for students from each type of 70 71 72 75 15 school or for all pooled together, or for the year 9·1 ti distribution of type of school for each of the fathe(s (8) Country of Birth (e) Father's Occupation occupation categories. For instance. it may be noted "1 68 It is difficult to make meaningful comparisons Figure 5 shows another expected bias - that 10 that only 4.7'% of students from independent schools between figures for student's country of birth and towards students whose father's occupations are of have fathers in the craftsmenflabourers category. or 8 1.,·2 any other statistics (Figure 7). This is because the higher status. Occupations are categorized that 39.7% of students whose fathers are in the age distribution of migrants is different hom the according to those used by the Austl·alian Bureau of 5 professional category went to high schools. general population. Also, children of a different Statistics. and comparative figures for Victoria from ethnic background may be born in Australia, so that the 1971 Census are shown in Table 1. The most (d) Religion migrant families may appear less well represented marked bias is that toward the Professional category. With respect to students· religion (Figure 6) the than they in fact are. The figures for the percentages The clearest under·representation is that of the 70 71 72 73 75 clearest trend is that the percentage of students born overseas must be considered in this light. Most category of craftsmenllabourers, etc. yeo, claiming no religious affiliation is increasillg. This Asian"born students are in Australia for study only, 18 19 so naturally the percentage of Asian students is new students especially in some other faculties will higher than the percentage of Asians in the general be interesting to monitor. It will also be important to U IVERSITY COU D RMUMr population. Their numbers are declining, however, determine the reasons for attendance of these but whether this is due to university or government mature students and their expectations. If mature H. Maddox' policy, or other factors is not clear. students are to become a significant component of the student body. their different values. fig 7 student's birthplace % expectations, maturity. etc. will have important The Growth of Higher Education In 1964 the Martin Committee thought that many implications for future curricula in tertiary education. 7 Of the 1,500,000 people in the 17·22 year age group students attempted University courses who would approximately 10 %, some 150,000, are now enrolled have been better provided for 'in institutions offering 3. Some Conclusions for University undergraduate courses. either full·time courses of different orientation, and less exacting These results show that there continues to be academically'. The Committee report reiterates that 6 or part-time. The demand for University places began considerable incidence of over-representation and (a) the general run of pass-degree students are not ~--u to increase strongly in the 1950·s. The main causes. under-representation of some groups in the in Australia as elsewhere, of this greater public well catered for in many University departments. E community in the student intake at Monash appetite for higher education were the increase in (b) University courses are too abstract and 5 A University. For some groups (in particular females knowledge, especially in scientific knowledge, rising theoretical to meet the day to day demand of industry and commerce. u and mature students) there is evidence of a trend educational standards and rising job qualifications; towards mme equitable representation. On the basis the high birth rates of the post war years: and above It does seem to be true that when institutions are up E of this data, it would be difficult to attribute these graded to University status their courses become too A all. increases in family finances which enabled the changes to the abolition of fees. The trends existed period of education to be extended. Other factors, difficult for many middling students; and since they birthplace of before the time of fee abolition. This emphasises the peculiar to Australia, have been a high immigration tend to be taught by research-oriented Ph.D's., their J Victoria's populalion need for longitudinal data for this type of analysis. rate and the training of many Asian students. content can become remote from the every-day world For example if one only had the 1974-1975 data for of industry, commerce and agriculture. Therefore Europe 12·3 % the increase in mature age students. it would be very Australian egalitarianism has insisted that all their middling students struggle through theoretical 2 easy to make the simplistic causal explanation that qualified applicants should have the chance of going courses that they do not fully understand, while their UK 73% the increases are due to fee abolition. In fact. as to a University if they wish. But in spite of the cleverer students aspire to do higher teaching or research themselves, and are often prepared to Asia 1 3% Figure 8 shows, this trend has existed since 1970. foundation of new Universities, enrolments expanded to such an extent that quotas had to be introduced in migrate from their native shores rather than take on On the other hand, these results show no evidence of some Universities in 1960. But many Faculties the necessary but unexciting jobs which do not meet change in participation rates by groups that would be continued to admit all qualified applicants. As a their intellectual aspirations. expected to be influenced by fee abolition. For result of this fairly free entry. failure rates in the first 70 71 72 73 75 example the children of craftsmenflabourers remain year at Universities have always been high. As a result of such considerations, the significantly under·represented while the children of sometimes of the order of 40·50%. Commonwealth Advisory Cornmittee on Advanced professional and executive parents remain Education recommended, in 1966, financial support (f) Age signi ficantly over-represented. The increase of enrolments has been greatest in for new tertiary institutions - the Colleges of A clear trend from 1970 on is the rise in the Arts-type Faculties, which do not demand a high Advanced Education. And at that time it was the percentage of new students aged 25 and over (figure A possible explanation for this is that for Monash standard of technical preparation. This imbalance is Government's intention that, by 1975, as many 8). This is not distributed over the whole university (and perhaps for tertiary institutions like Monash) in line with world trends. and results from the more tertiary students would be enrolled in the non but is largely in the Arts faculty. The trend cannot biases inherent in the selection procedures are more exacting and laborious requirements in Science and University sector as in the Universities. But these continue at the same rate for much longer, at least in important barriers to some community groups than Technology.' • intentions have not yet been realised. and C.A. E. the Arts faculty, and the changing age distribution of financial barriers. If this is so. then if we do wish to enrolments are stili only about half of the University enrolments. fig 8 % oged 25 UflC, ()vpr widen the tertiary franchise we will need to adjust the Observers of the tertiary scene have thought that the % selection procedure (for example. along the lines larger Metropolitan Universities have had to attempt suggested by Fensham (1970)) ill addition to the too many tasks, and that they have been able to do Meanwhile. although the size of the 17-22 age group removal of fees. The cost of this in terms of lowering will level out in the coming years, the proportions of 25 few of them well. They train large undergraduate of standards is likely to be negligible (see West and classes (some first year classes are over a thousand students staying on at school to the sixth form is Siamowicz (1976)). strong), and as well as carrying on a tradition of likely to increase. (In N.S.W. the holding power of knowledge and scholarship, they give professional Government schools in 1973 was estimated at 34% 20 for boys and 30'% for girls). And thus the Chairman of REFERENCES training in law. medicine, engineering. technology and business. They also offer part·time degree the Universities Commission* expects that demand Anderson. D. S. Rep(·r! ,)1 ~ iHiler pn,sentr,d :0 il"l,"! ANZAAS courses on a unit system to trainees from industry, for University places is still likely to increase at % 15 Conference 1'1 Nd!lonal Tlllles. Mil)' :l1·JlIflr~ Cl. 1976 commerce and Hle Public Service. They offer bel ween 3-6 per year in the foreseeable future. At Fensham. P. J. Teillary ecluCilllOllill postgraduate training and they undertake the same time. intake is to be pegged at the 1976 Fensh2lrll (ed I. flights and IrIf"quall(Y ,n EducatIOn level. Universities will therefore be forced. yet again. Melbourne: Cilesilire. (970 fundamental research. In addition they serve as to be more selective in their admissions. - although 10 lee Dow, K. Jones. l. D. & Osman. l. M. Th() sockJI cultural centres and forums for discussion. These Arts s1ur1cnls I~W UrHv[~r::'lly u: M,,~llK'UIr1 20 21