Regional and remote higher education: a quick guide


27 April 2022

PDF version [385KB]

Dr Hazel Ferguson
Social Policy Section

 

People from regional and remote areas are recognised as one of 6 equity groups in the Australian Government’s policy framework to improve equity of access, participation and success in higher education. Yet, according to a 2018 analysis for the then Department of Education and Training, several interacting factors continue to contribute to lower higher education attainment in regional and remote areas: 

  • limited local higher education study options
  • the financial, emotional, and social challenges associated with relocating to study
  • differences in student experiences and aspirations and
  • other forms of disadvantage that correspond with location, such as being from lower socioeconomic status households, being Indigenous, and/or studying part time.

This quick guide provides an overview of regional and remote higher education. It outlines key statistics based on Australian Government data, current Australian Government initiatives, and a list of regionally headquartered universities.

Currently, Australian Government higher education statistics and policy use the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS), which classifies remoteness based on access to services. The most recent remoteness structure of the ASGS was produced in 2016. The ASGS uses 5 Remoteness Areas: major cities, inner regional, outer regional, remote and very remote. Where possible, the statistics in this quick guide also use the 2016 ASGS Remoteness Areas.  

The quick guide does not cover income support arrangements such as the Tertiary Access Payment, or higher education initiatives to support and grow regional and remote workforces, such as those included in the Stronger Rural Health Strategy, or the reduction of Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts for teachers in very remote areas.

Key statistics

Attainment by regionality

According to the ABS, in May 2021, 48.6% of people aged 25 to 34 years in major cities had a bachelor degree or above, compared with 26.9% in inner regional areas, 21.1% in outer regional areas, and approximately 16.6% in remote and very remote areas.

Table 1     Bachelor degree and above attainment rates by Remoteness Area, 2013–2021 (%)

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Persons aged 15 to 74 years
Major Cities 27.6 27.8 29.3 29.7 31.0 31.6 32.5 34.5 35.8
Inner Regional 14.8 16.1 16.3 16.6 16.6 16.8 17.8 19.2 19.9
Outer Regional 13.3 13.0 13.8 14.0 15.5 14.7 15.8 15.9 16.0
Remote and Very Remote 12.7 13.7 13.6 14.7 16.3 13.4 18.4 16.1 16.8
Persons aged 25 to 34 years
Major Cities 40.6 41.8 42.4 42.2 44.6 44.6 45.4 47.9 48.6
Inner Regional 20.5 21.7 21.1 21.1 20.5 22.6 22.9 24.4 26.9
Outer Regional 17.2 18.6 18.4 17.7 20.6 23.0 22.0 24.3 21.1
Remote and Very Remote 16.2 18.9 19.3 19.5 26.9* 22.3 35.1* 21.6 16.6*

Note: attainment rates vary slightly from those shown in the 2016 Census due to differences in survey methodology.
* These figures have a high margin of error and should be treated with caution.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Education and Work, Australia, (Canberra: ABS, 2021), Table 34.

Applications and offers

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) publishes undergraduate applications, offers and acceptances data annually. The latest DESE analysis of this data (p. 8) shows university applications from regional and remote residents are declining—by 0.1% in 2021, compared with a 4.5% increase among metropolitan applicants. However, non-metropolitan applicants who apply are more likely to receive an offer (84.7% in 2021) compared with metropolitan applicants (81.5% in 2021).

Note that this analysis excludes applications and offers from the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre because of a ‘half-year’ Year 12 cohort resulting from the introduction of an additional year of schooling in 2007.

Enrolments

Enrolment statistics from the DESE higher education student data collection are shown in Tables 2 (all domestic students) and 3 (undergraduate domestic students only). Undergraduate trends are particularly notable, with enrolments among people from regional and remote backgrounds decreasing between 2019 and 2020 by 3.2% and 3.5% respectively, compared to a 1.9% increase in all domestic undergraduate enrolments.  

Increases in 2016 are largely due to the introduction of a ‘first address’ measure which increased the proportion of regional and remote students recorded. The data collection had previously omitted some students who relocated away from these areas to attend a higher education institution.

Table 2     Regional and remote enrolments, all domestic students and year on year (YoY) change (%), 2013–2020

  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Regional 188,531 195,557 199,026 215,501 216,394 214,939 216,649 214,518
YoY change ..  3.7 1.8 8.3 0.4 -0.7 0.8 -1.0
Remote 8,578 8,943 9,007 10,109 10,275 10,133 10,171 10,405
YoY change ..  4.3 0.7 12.2 1.6 -1.4 0.4 2.3
All students 972,292 1,013,831 1,035,474 1,055,274 1,071,448 1,071,980 1,076,790 1,124,453
YoY change ..  4.3 2.1 1.9 1.5 0.0 0.4 4.4

Note: There is a break in series in 2016 due to the move from the 2011 ASGS to the 2016 ASGS, and the introduction of the first address measure.
Source: Parliamentary Library estimates and Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE), 2020 Section 11 - Equity groups, (Canberra: DESE, 14 February 2022).

Table 3     Regional and remote enrolments, undergraduate domestic students and YoY change (%), 2013–2020

  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Regional 144,848 149,574 153,873 165,175 166,710 165,035 163,743 158,574
YoY change   3.3 2.9 7.3 0.9 -1.0 -0.8 -3.2
Remote 5,830 5,983 6,076 7,013 7,124 7,153 7,158 6,907
YoY change   2.6 1.6 15.4 1.6 0.4 0.1 -3.5
All students 717,683 745,733 768,649 784,524 801,080 804,614 803,035 818,364
YoY change 3.9 3.1 2.1 2.1 0.4 -0.2 1.9

Note: See Table 2.
Source: Parliamentary Library estimates and DESE, 2020 Section 11 - Equity groups, (Canberra: DESE, 14 February 2022).

Intersection with other recognised equity groups

In 2020, the first registered address for 224,923 undergraduate domestic students was in a regional or remote area. Table 4 below shows the number of these students who also belong to at least one other recognised equity group, with the largest overlap being that 30.3% of regional and remote students also come from a low socioeconomic status (SES) background.

Table 4     Regional and remote students, membership of other recognised equity groups, all domestic students, 2020

Students in first address regional or remote equity group Percentage of regional or remote students in equity group (%)
Students from a non-English speaking background 3,420 1.5
Students with a disability 17,334 7.7
Indigenous 9,991 4.4
First address low SES 68,231 30.3
First address regional or remote 224,923 100.0

Note: Students may belong to more than one other equity group. Figures should not be summed.
Source: Parliamentary Library estimates and DESE, 2020 Section 11 - Equity groups, (Canberra: DESE, 14 February 2022).

Participation and attainment rates

As an alternative to raw enrolment numbers, the DESE higher education student data collection also includes several different ways of measuring equity group performance in comparison to overall student numbers, and the proportion of people from each equity group in the Australian population. These measures can be more meaningful than enrolment counts, because they provide a basis to judge whether equity groups are engaging with higher education at the level that would be expected if they were not facing barriers to participation.  

Tables 5 (regional) and 6 (remote) provide a selection of access, participation and attainment rates, along with ‘reference values’, which represent the percentage of people living in regional or remote areas in the working-age population (15–64 years):

  • access rates measure commencing regional or remote students over all commencing domestic onshore students
  • participation rates measure all regional or remote students over all domestic onshore students
  • attainment rates measure award course completions by regional or remote students over all domestic award course completions.

Table 5 shows that in 2020, the access rate for students from regional backgrounds (20.25%) remained below the proportion of working-age people living in regional areas in the population as a whole (22.62%), with lower rates of participation (19.37%) and attainment (18.16%) consistent with some commencing students not completing their studies (completion rates are covered in the next section). This disparity is not evident for remote students—a very low population (0.47%) compares with a 1.00% access rate, 0.94% participation rate, and 0.83% attainment rate in 2020.

Table 5     Domestic students at Australian universities, first address1 regional, 2013–2020 (%)

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Reference values2 25.20 25.20 25.20 22.62 22.62 22.62 22.62 22.62
Access rate 21.00 21.23 21.07 22.03 21.57 21.16 21.28 20.25
Participation rate 19.85 19.72 19.62 20.82 20.54 20.34 20.37 19.37
Attainment rate 17.97 17.69 17.56 19.28 18.99 19.18 19.39 18.16

Notes:
1. First address measure is used from 2016. This measure is based on a student's permanent home address at the commencement of study.
2. Reference values are based on 2011 and 2016 ABS Census data.
Sources: DESE, 2020 Section 11 - Equity groups, (Canberra: DESE, 14 February 2022); DESE, Visual Analytics Equity Performance Data, (Canberra: DESE, n.d.).

Table 6     Domestic students at Australian universities, first address1 remote, 2013–2020 (%)

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Reference values2 0.57 0.57 0.57 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47
Access rate 1.00 1.04 0.99 1.05 1.06 0.99 1.03 1.00
Participation rate 0.91 0.91 0.89 0.98 0.98 0.97 0.96 0.94
Attainment rate 0.72 0.77 0.74 0.89 0.86 0.87 0.84 0.83

Notes: See Table 5.
Sources: DESE, 2020 Section 16 – Equity performance data, (Canberra: DESE, 14 February 2022); DESE, Visual Analytics Equity Performance Data, (Canberra: DESE, n.d.).

Completion rates

DESE analysis (Table 7) shows that 72.9% of metropolitan students who started studying in 2012 had completed by 2020, compared with 67.7% of students from regional backgrounds, and 61.5% of students from remote backgrounds.

Although there is evidence of non-metropolitan students remaining enrolled or re-enrolling, the relatively high proportion of students who withdraw again after re‑enrolling (17.7% of regional and 18.9% remote students, for those who commenced in 2012) points to the persistence of barriers for these students.   

Table 7     Cohort analysis, Australian university commencing domestic bachelor students over a nine-year period (%)

  Commencement year Completed (in any year) Still enrolled at the end of the 9 year period Re-enrolled, but dropped out Never came back after the first year
Metropolitan 2005 75.0 4.1 13.4 7.5
2006 74.8 4.1 14.0 7.1
2007 74.8 4.0 13.9 7.2
2008 75.2 3.8 14.3 6.6
2009 75.0 4.2 14.7 6.1
2010 74.1 4.2 15.0 6.7
2011 74.3 4.0 15.3 6.4
2012 72.9 4.5 15.8 6.8
Regional 2005 69.8 4.5 15.6 10.0
2006 69.1 4.7 16.1 10.1
2007 69.2 4.6 16.4 9.7
2008 69.9 4.5 16.6 9.0
2009 69.9 4.5 17.0 8.6
2010 69.4 4.4 17.5 8.6
2011 68.0 4.7 18.3 9.0
2012 67.7 5.1 17.7 9.5
Remote 2005 59.6 5.7 19.7 14.9
2006 60.2 4.6 20.1 15.1
2007 61.2 5.8 19.6 13.3
2008 57.9 5.6 21.2 15.3
2009 61.0 6.4 20.8 11.8
2010 60.7 5.5 20.9 12.9
2011 61.6 5.8 19.9 12.7
2012 61.5 5.9 18.9 13.7

Note: Regional classification is reported on a student's postcode of permanent home residence. Metropolitan, regional and remote categories are derived from the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs classification (MCEETYA) until 2010. From 2011, regional classification is based on the ASGS.
Source: DESE, Completion Rates of Higher Education Students - Cohort Analysis, 2005-2020, (Canberra: DESE, 14 February 2022).

Graduate outcomes

For those people from regional and remote areas who do achieve an undergraduate degree, there is evidence that career outcomes are slightly better than those from city areas.

According to the Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS) (Table 8), completed by graduates of Australian higher education institutions 4 to 6 months after finishing their studies, when compared with their metropolitan counterparts, people from regional or remote areas who complete undergraduate degrees:

  • have higher full-time and overall employment rates
  • have slightly lower labour force participation rates and
  • have slightly higher full-time median salaries.

Table 8     Graduate outcomes, undergraduate students by regionality, 2021 

  Regional/remote Metropolitan
Full-time employment rate (%) 74.3 67.5
Overall employment rate (%) 87.4 84.2
Labour force participation rate (%) 91.5 92.2
Median salary, employed full-time $65,200 $65,000

Source: Social Research Centre, 2021 GOS National Report Accessible, (Melbourne: Social Research Centre, October 2021),  12–13.

Regional Universities

The Regional Universities Network (RUN) is made up of 7 universities headquartered in regional Australia, that aim to ‘ensure that higher education is accessible and achievable, and produce qualified professionals needed for regional development’:

In addition to the RUN universities, the following are also based in regional Australia:

Many city-based universities also have regional campuses and study locations, while many students from regional and remote backgrounds also study at city-based universities. A list of student numbers from regional and remote backgrounds by provider is at Appendix A.

Australian Government regional and remote student equity initiatives

Background

Current Australian Government equity policy, which includes measures for regional and remote students, builds on A Fair Chance for All, the national plan released in 1990 as part of the Dawkins reforms. A Fair Chance for All ‘set out for the first time a coherent set of national objectives, targets and strategies for ensuring that the benefits of higher education are within everyone’s reach’ (p. 5).

Equity in Higher Education Panel

The Equity in Higher Education Panel (EHEP) was established in 2020 to provide advice and recommendations to DESE about student equity policy. It has been tasked with developing a 5-year Student Equity in Higher Education Roadmap.

National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education

The National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, based at Curtin University, is funded by the Australian Government to provide national leadership in research, policy and practice related to student equity in higher education. Its work includes interactive equity data and research publications relevant to regional and remote student equity. 

Regional Education Commissioner

The Regional Education Commissioner (the Commissioner) is a non-statutory role responsible for overseeing and coordinating the implementation of actions recommended in the 2019 National Regional, Rural and Remote Tertiary Education Strategy—final report (Napthine Review). The first Commissioner, Fiona Nash, was appointed for a three-year term in December 2021.

The Commissioner has responsibility for actions across all education sectors, including early childhood education, school education, vocational education and training (VET), and higher education.

Regional University Centres

Regional University Centres (RUC), formerly known as Regional Study Hubs, provide general facilities such as study spaces, video conferencing, computers, and administrative and academic support services, for students studying remotely with any tertiary education provider. For people not located close to a regional university campus, RUCs can provide access to some of the kinds of support students typically access on campus, without the need to relocate.

At the time of writing, there are currently 25 RUCs operating (a map is available for download) with an additional RUC scheduled to open, in Wangaratta, in 2022. 

Further information is available via the RUC Network website.

Additional funding for Commonwealth supported places

Additional funding for subsidised higher education courses, known as a Commonwealth supported places (CSP), for people from regional and remote areas, is provided via two mechanisms in the Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS):

Indigenous, Regional and Low Socioeconomic Status (SES) Attainment Fund

The Indigenous, Regional and Low SES Attainment Fund includes support to improve access and participation of students from regional and remote backgrounds via:

  • the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program, which distributes funding to providers based on their share of domestic undergraduate students from regional and remote areas, as well as Indigenous students and those from a low SES background
  • the National Priorities Pool Program, which provides grants to support research, trials and implementation initiatives that aim to improve equity policy and programs
  • the Regional Partnerships Project Pool, which provides grants to support collaboration between higher education providers and schools, VET providers and community organisations to address barriers to higher education for students from regional and remote areas and
  • the Regional Loading Program, which provides additional funding, based on the remoteness of a provider’s campus(es) and number of CSPs, to support the cost of providing higher education in regional areas.

Rural and regional enterprise scholarships

Rural and Regional Enterprise Scholarships assist VET and higher education students from regional and remote backgrounds with the costs of studying at the Certificate IV to PhD level.

Up to $18,000 is provided depending on course length and type, with an additional $500 available for students who undertake a relevant internship.

Further information

Appendix A: domestic students with first address regional and remote, by state and institution, 2020

State Institution All
domestic
students 		First address regional/remote Percentage of all domestic students first address regional/remote (%)
New South Wales Charles Sturt University 35,589     16,005 45.0
Macquarie University 33,627        1,744 5.2
Southern Cross University 15,742        6,871 43.6
The University of New England 23,219        9,731 41.9
The University of Newcastle 31,362        6,932 22.1
The University of Sydney 39,499        2,304 5.8
University of New South Wales 39,672        2,860 7.2
University of Technology Sydney 31,967        1,119 3.5
University of Wollongong 19,426        5,543 28.5
Western Sydney University 41,222        1,761 4.3
Non-University Higher Education Institutions 38,535        5,207 13.5
Victoria Deakin University 49,308     10,695 21.7
Federation University Australia 8,153        4,741 58.2
La Trobe University 28,391        7,900 27.8
Monash University 45,110        4,330 9.6
RMIT University 41,060        3,500 8.5
Swinburne University of Technology 31,665        5,570 17.6
The University of Melbourne 41,210        4,721 11.5
University of Divinity 1,308 <5 Not calculated
Victoria University 17,244        1,619 9.4
Non-University Higher Education Institutions 6,826           979 14.3
Queensland Bond University 3,103           331 10.7
CQUniversity 19,739     13,952 70.7
Griffith University 41,300        5,124 12.4
James Cook University 13,725     10,846 79.0
Queensland University of Technology 44,011        5,033 11.4
The University of Queensland 34,108        5,191 15.2
University of Southern Queensland 22,805     10,480 46.0
University of the Sunshine Coast 15,624        4,032 25.8
Non-University Higher Education Institutions 7,109        1,178 16.6
Western Australia Curtin University 36,948        4,774 12.9
Edith Cowan University 24,120        3,637 15.1
Murdoch University 16,028        1,600 10.0
The University of Notre Dame Australia 12,360           840 6.8
The University of Western Australia 18,911        1,845 9.8
Non-University Higher Education Institutions 1,187             94 7.9
South Australia Flinders University 20,791        4,294 20.7
The University of Adelaide 20,105        3,034 15.1
Torrens University Australia 10,714           685 6.4
University of South Australia 30,858        5,608 18.2
Private Universities (Table C) and Non-University Higher Education Institutions 4,749           849 17.9
Tasmania University of Tasmania 33,812     21,157 62.6
Northern Territory Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education 18 <5 Not calculated
Charles Darwin University 11,626        7,338 63.1
Australian Capital Territory The Australian National University 15,138        2,237 14.8
University of Canberra 12,706        2,251 17.7
Non-University Higher Education Institutions 1,520           526 34.6
Multi-State Australian Catholic University 28,195        3,137 11.1
Non-University Higher Education Institutions 3,008           432 14.4
TOTAL   1,124,453   224,923 20.0

Source: Parliamentary Library estimates and DESE, 2020 Section 11 - Equity groups, (Canberra: DESE, 14 February 2022).

 

For copyright reasons some linked items are only available to members of Parliament.

© Commonwealth of Australia

Creative commons logo

Creative Commons

With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and to the extent that copyright subsists in a third party, this publication, its logo and front page design are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence.

In essence, you are free to copy and communicate this work in its current form for all non-commercial purposes, as long as you attribute the work to the author and abide by the other licence terms. The work cannot be adapted or modified in any way. Content from this publication should be attributed in the following way: Author(s), Title of publication, Series Name and No, Publisher, Date.

To the extent that copyright subsists in third party quotes it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.

Inquiries regarding the licence and any use of the publication are welcome to webmanager@aph.gov.au.

This work has been prepared to support the work of the Australian Parliament using information available at the time of production. The views expressed do not reflect an official position of the Parliamentary Library, nor do they constitute professional legal opinion.

Any concerns or complaints should be directed to the Parliamentary Librarian. Parliamentary Library staff are available to discuss the contents of publications with Senators and Members and their staff. To access this service, clients may contact the author or the Library‘s Central Entry Point for referral.