During demand driven funding UG enrolments at private providers grew faster  (38 per cent) than at public universities (14 per cent)

Buly Cardak (La Trobe U) Matt Brett (Deakin U) and Sally Burt (Independent Higher Education Australia) suggest why in a new paper for journal Research in post-compulsory education.

what happened: Private provider growth occurred despite the non-government sector being more expensive for students, if only for the 20 per cent premium they paid on HELP loans – which seems strange. What seems stranger is low SES student participation grew faster at private providers than at universities, making up a higher proportion of UGs at the former than the latter.

and why: The authors find students followed their interests – graphic and design studies at private providers went from no enrolments in 2012 to 1325 in 2018, while the number at public institutions was close to stable. Audio-visual enrolments in the private sector went up by 1486 and just 1021 in public universities. “To some extent, private universities and colleges were able to grow enrolments in niche areas where public universities offered relatively limited competition,” they write.

And students at private providers were not put off by price, willing to pay a premium to study what they wanted. “The areas of expansion between 2012 and 2018 were at private universities and private colleges offering niche specialised programmes not widely offered at public universities. In such cases, a higher price can be charged as there is limited competition.”

what it means for policy: “Higher education systems and policy may incentivise engagement in particular disciplines and institutions, but this will not preclude students from pursuing interests that may not align with policy imperatives,” Brett, Burt and Cardak conclude.