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Higher Education Review ProcessStriving for Quality: Learning, Teaching and Scholarship4. changing patterns of student enrolment, engagement and expectations
43 A generation ago, most university students were full-time, live-at-home school leavers. Today, the student population has grown and is more diverse. The last decade has witnessed new admission pathways accessed by commencing students, changes in the patterns of enrolment and a lengthening of study durations. It has also seen an ageing of some sections of the student body while other sections have become younger. Students’ attendance modes have changed. These developments present higher education institutions with a complex and dynamic student body. The changing constituency of the student population has implications for the nature of their engagement in higher education learning experiences and the nature of their expectations of that education. It raises questions of how these changes should influence course structure and delivery and teaching and learning generally. 44 Students commencing undergraduate programmes are admitted via a range of mechanisms. Satisfactory completion of the final year of secondary education at school is now the basis of admission for only 41 per cent of commencing undergraduate students. Thirteen per cent of admissions are based on incomplete higher education courses, 11 per cent on completed higher education courses and 7 per cent on prior non-secondary study at TAFE. 45 While overall undergraduate commencements have increased by 31 per cent over the last decade, the admission profile has changed considerably due to wide variations in growth between admission categories. Undergraduate commencing students admitted on institutional examination and employment experience have each increased by over 200 per cent from 1991 to 2001. Students accepted on the basis of prior non-secondary TAFE studies have increased by 177 per cent and those based on prior higher education study have increased by 44 per cent. By contrast, the number of students admitted on the basis of secondary education completed at school has grown by only 6 per cent, resulting in their share of the commencing student cohort decreasing by almost ten percentage points since 1991. Admissions based on mature age entry provisions have fallen by 25 per cent, while admissions based on other special entry provisions have grown at 20 per cent. 46 Increased student enrolments have been the result of two underlying factors: increased access to education and increased duration of study. The probability of a person participating in higher education at some point in their life has increased from 39 per cent in 1989 to 47 per cent in 2000. Over the same period, the expected duration of study for higher education students has also increased, from 3.0 years in 1989 to 3.4 years (Martin and Karmel, 2002). As a result, the total student enrolment has grown more rapidly than commencing student enrolments. 47 Whilst total student enrolments have grown by 36 per cent over the last ten years, this growth has varied across age groups. Above average growth has been experienced by the 20 to 24 years, 25 to 29 years, 40 to 49 years and 50 to 59 years age groups (DEET, 1991; DEST, 2002a). 48 There has been a slight ageing of the student population, mainly due to increased durations of study rather than the ageing of commencing student cohorts, which are actually becoming younger (Martin and Karmel, 2002b). Indeed, 61 per cent of students are aged 24 years or less. However, over one-quarter of students are aged 30 years or over. 49 The age distribution of the student population largely reflects the age distribution of undergraduate enrolments, which comprised 76.7 per cent of the total student population in 2001. The age profile of the postgraduate student population is generally getting younger with growth in the number of students aged 20 to 29 years of 83.0 per cent over the last decade outstripping growth of the 30 to 39 years age group at 42.1 per cent. However, the number of postgraduate students older than 50 years has increased by 171 per cent over the last decade, and by 2001 comprised 7.2 per cent of the postgraduate student population. 50 Variation in the mix of enrolment types can also reflect changes in the overall student age profile. Students who are studying externally tend to be older than those studying internally and those who study part-time are older than their full-time peers. The median age of the oldest student group (external, part-time) in 2000 was 33 years, which contrasts with the median age of the youngest student group (internal, full-time) at 20 years. There has been a steady increase in the proportions of students who have study patterns other than the traditional internal, full-time mode (DEST, 2001). Thirty-seven per cent of students in 2001 had attendance patterns other than internal full-time (DEST, 2002a). 51 Research by the Centre for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) at the University of Melbourne (McInnis and James, 1995; McInnis, James and Hartley, 2000; James, 2001) has found that there has been an increase in the proportion of students working part-time, fewer students spending five days a week on campus and a “declining willingness of many students to engage to the full in university life” (James, 2001). McInnis (2001) concludes that the changes are so significant that “universities will need to reorganise the academic year to accommodate the increasingly diverse demands from undergraduate students to manage paid work and study”. 52 There is also an increasing expectation by students that they should have choices – in terms of subjects, modes of delivery, methods of assessment and time spent on campus. Many academics believe that the heightened expectation of choice stems from what James (2001) describes as:
53 There is a greater awareness of the buying power of students, as they demand value for their investments of money and time. Many need the flexibility to arrange education around their work commitments; others desire to study more weeks in a year, and by so doing, reduce the length of time required to graduate. 54 When looking to causes for changing student expectations and behaviours universities need to also look at their own policies and behaviours as potential influences. James argues that:
55 In evaluating students’ expectations, it is also important to remember that the higher education experience should provide a challenge to existing student expectations, so that students are to some extent transformed and extended. The opportunities for influence on expectations are clearly two-way, as James (2001) notes that “the higher education process not only shapes student expectations, the education process is itself influenced by the character of student expectations”. 56 Whilst acknowledging that patterns of student engagement are changing, we do not know a lot about the educational effects of such changing patterns. For example, by spending less time on campus, are students missing important elements of a higher education that could be structured into educational experiences in other ways? Are there differences in the ways students engage in their learning experiences in different disciplines? What changes in curriculum are appropriate in light of these changes? McInnis (2001) suggests that students should be able to negotiate their engagement in ways that best suit their circumstances. This would have profound implications for the organisation of the academic year, the practices and times of operation of universities, and the packaging of learning experiences and courses. 57 Whilst higher education institutions need to be responsive to student expectations, they also need to balance this against becoming overly reactive. The move to a student-centred understanding of teaching and learning does not mean that student expectations alone influence professional judgements and decisions about the teaching and learning process. The challenge for institutions is to monitor developments in the complex web of student needs and expectations and to develop strategies to allow informed and strategic decision-making about the higher education experience.
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Any comments or
queries should be sent to:
highered@dest.gov.au
Department of Education, Science and Training
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