Leaving high school and entering university used to be the norm for Australians, but that is now beginning to change.
Fewer Aussies are now enrolling in university than any point in the last decade, with figures from the Federal Department of Education revealing university enrolments for domestic students sinking in both 2022 and 2023, after peaking in 2021.
Around 396,000 domestic students enrolled in university in 2023, the lowest rate in the last 10 years and a drop of 22 per cent compared to the enrolment numbers before the pandemic.
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Data also revealed a quarter of students who began university in 2017 had dropped by the end of 2022, the second-highest dropout rate on record.
These revelations come as leading universities around the country are slashing budgets, staff numbers and course offerings.
Last month, the University of Technology Sydney suspended enrolments for over 100 courses amid rumours of 400 teaching jobs being made redundant.
Meanwhile, TAFE enrolments are on the rise, thanks to incentives such as fee-free courses.
This has seen TAFE numbers in NSW recover and rise to around 404,000 at the end of 2024.
One Aussie who left university for TAFE is Sydney, who commenced a Bachelor of Engineering at UTS in 2016.
She never finished her degree, instead completing a Certificate IV in Engineering Drafting in 2022.
Sydney told 9news.com.au the fee-free incentives were a big motivator, and said the style of teaching differed between TAFE and her experience at university.
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“Teachers [at TAFE] definitely care about you more, feedback is more personalised,” she said.
“Some lecturers and tutors [at university] are very helpful and others kind of don’t care.
“It feels like teaching is teaching, and caring about students is secondary.”
TAFE NSW is actively recruiting women to enter their courses as it looks to fill skills shortages, and indicated future programs were in the pipeline.
“We deliver a range of programs and short courses designed to give high school students a taste of vocational education, encourage more women to consider careers in trades, and support people to upskill or reskill,” a TAFE NSW spokesperson told 9news.com.au.
Sydney’s course took one year and included work placement, which helped her get a full-time job at an engineering firm in Parramatta in Sydney’s west.
“I got industry experience at the same time as studying TAFE,” she said.
“TAFE gave me a more hands-on experience in terms of learning programs and things like that, whereas at uni, the onus is on you to learn the program.”
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