Survey of Private Providers in Australian Higher Education 1999

Executive summary

This report presents the findings of a national survey of private providers of higher education in Australia conducted by the Lifelong Learning Network, University of Canberra, for the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA).

The primary purpose of the survey was to obtain information about the number of students enrolled in private higher education institutions or in the private arms of public institutions. These students are not counted in the annual DETYA administrative data collections. The survey aimed to produce an estimate of the number of students in private higher education institutions by field of study. The survey also sought the opinions of private providers about factors affecting their growth.

At 31 March 1999, there were 86 private providers registered to offer higher education in Australia. The 79 private institutions that responded to this survey cater to 31 212 students who are enrolled in over 200 courses of study. This translates to a student load of 18 877 Equivalent Full-time Student Units (EFTSU). In 1999, the full year estimate of student load in public institutions was 535 566 EFTSU (DETYA 1999). The EFTSU in private institutions therefore represents 3.4 per cent of total student load (554 456 EFTSU) in the higher education sector. Of the seven institutions that did not respond to the survey, one refused to supply enrolment information and the other six could not be contacted by telephone. Details of respondents and non-respondents are provided in Appendix A.

Student enrolments in private institutions are concentrated in two areas defined in the DETYA field of study classification as 04 Business, Administration, Economics and 03 Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. There is no private provision in the fields of 02 Architecture, Building or 06 Engineering, Surveying.

More specifically, the fields of study with the highest private enrolments are 040204 Banking and Finance (4734 EFTSU) and 030217 Religion and Theology (4881 EFTSU). Other areas of high enrolments are 040201 Business, Administration-General (2181 EFTSU), 070499 Health Sciences and Technologies-Other (1411 EFTSU), 080201 Law-General (815 EFTSU) and 030401 Visual and Performing Arts-General (754 EFTSU). Student enrolments by specific course of study are provided in Appendix B.

Private provision is more likely to be at the postgraduate level than public provision of higher education. Forty-seven per cent of private higher education EFTSU is in postgraduate courses. Forty-four per cent of private higher education student load (EFTSU) is in Bachelor degrees compared to over 80 per cent in public institutions.

The majority of private providers who participated in the survey were optimistic about their future enrolment growth. Only one respondent expected enrolment to decline the following year and 28 per cent expected an enrolment increase of more than 10 per cent in 2000.

When asked about factors influencing their growth, 81 per cent of survey respondents said that State and Territory course accreditation processes were important or very important in enhancing their growth. It has been suggested that government course accreditation could be a useful marketing tool for private institutions.

When asked about the factors that inhibited their growth, two-thirds of survey respondents cited competition from other private institutions and 64 per cent said that the absence of Commonwealth funding for student places was an important or very important factor inhibiting their growth. The absence of HECS deferred fee-paying arrangements was also mentioned by several private institutions as a factor that inhibited their growth.

The providers of higher education courses can be grouped into four categories: professional and industry associations (33 per cent of EFTSU); theological colleges (17 per cent); niche market operators (28 per cent); and private universities (22 per cent). A list of institutions in each category is provided in Appendix C.

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Note: A full copy of the report is available in PDF format