New federal figures show the demand driven system has had a marginal impact on undergraduate completion rates over time. But while some universities have improved their performance, Federation U completions collapsed from 51.3 per cent for the 2009-2014 cohort to 36.4 per cent for the 2010-2015 group.
The new figures from the Department of Education and Training cover students who started during the increased access to study period which preceded the introduction of demand driven funding and which provide, “an early indication” of the impact of the new system.
Overall 66 per cent of 2010 starting students had completed a course after six years, the lowest figure since the first collection of data, for 2005 starts. However, the decline was just 0.9 per cent. But early four-year figures for the 2012 cohort confirm the decline since universities expanded access, with completions down 0.9 per cent on 2011 and 2.2 per cent on 2005. (The 2012 figure includes private providers but government analysis indicates this had no significant impact).
Universities with 75 per cent plus completions in 2010-2015 are: University of Melbourne 87.7 per cent (88 per cent in 2009-2014) University of Sydney 82.9 per cent (81.9), ANU 81.1 per cent (80 per cent), Monash University 79.8 per cent (79.3 per cent) UNSW 79.6 per cent (78.1 per cent), UTS 76.7 per cent (77.1 per cent), University of Wollongong 75.2 per cent (76.7 per cent),
While some universities improved completion rates from 2009-2014 to 2010-2015, notably Southern Cross U up 3 per cent, less than 60 per cent of 2010-2105 students completed at 13 public institutions.
| Six year completion rates for commencing domestic bachelor students by Table A institution and Table B institution, 2005-2010, 2006-2011, 2007-2012, 2008-2013, 2009-2014 and 2010-2015, % | |||||||
| 2005-2010 | 2006-2011 | 2007-2012 | 2008-2013 | 2009-2014 | 2010-2015 | ||
| Table A institutions | |||||||
| New South Wales | Charles Sturt University | 56.0 | 54.2 | 53.7 | 55.9 | 53.5 | 54.6 |
| Macquarie University | 72.1 | 71.9 | 73.2 | 73.0 | 71.3 | 69.4 | |
| Southern Cross University | 52.7 | 54.7 | 52.7 | 52.1 | 52.5 | 55.6 | |
| The University of New England | 53.0 | 51.6 | 49.4 | 50.8 | 49.0 | 47.2 | |
| The University of Newcastle | 71.0 | 70.7 | 67.1 | 64.7 | 64.1 | 63.5 | |
| The University of Sydney | 84.4 | 84.2 | 82.8 | 81.6 | 81.9 | 82.9 | |
| University of New South Wales | 75.8 | 74.7 | 75.5 | 75.9 | 78.1 | 79.6 | |
| University of Technology, Sydney | 77.1 | 76.3 | 77.0 | 77.1 | 77.1 | 76.7 | |
| University of Wollongong | 76.0 | 75.0 | 77.4 | 76.5 | 76.7 | 75.2 | |
| Western Sydney University | 68.4 | 67.7 | 64.4 | 63.9 | 63.1 | 61.2 | |
| Victoria | Deakin University | 64.6 | 64.9 | 65.9 | 68.6 | 70.5 | 71.3 |
| Federation University Australia | 65.4 | 57.7 | 56.7 | 53.2 | 51.3 | 36.4 | |
| La Trobe University | 70.5 | 70.7 | 69.7 | 70.1 | 69.5 | 70.8 | |
| Monash University | 74.2 | 77.1 | 78.2 | 79.7 | 79.3 | 79.8 | |
| RMIT University | 68.5 | 68.7 | 70.3 | 72.4 | 74.8 | 74.2 | |
| Swinburne University of Technology | 65.7 | 66.8 | 66.1 | 64.1 | 65.5 | 65.1 | |
| The University of Melbourne | 83.9 | 84.7 | 86.4 | 87.7 | 88.0 | 87.7 | |
| Victoria University | 61.0 | 62.4 | 60.2 | 62.3 | 57.4 | 54.7 | |
| Queensland | CQUniversity | 44.0 | 41.8 | 42.2 | 43.6 | 42.5 | 45.5 |
| Griffith University | 62.7 | 62.9 | 63.3 | 64.8 | 64.1 | 62.6 | |
| James Cook University | 52.0 | 51.4 | 53.1 | 56.1 | 55.6 | 54.2 | |
| Queensland University of Technology | 67.7 | 65.5 | 65.6 | 66.9 | 69.3 | 68.3 | |
| The University of Queensland | 73.1 | 70.2 | 69.8 | 72.7 | 71.3 | 71.7 | |
| University of Southern Queensland | 43.4 | 39.7 | 41.9 | 42.4 | 44.4 | 42.5 | |
| University of the Sunshine Coast | 48.6 | 46.8 | 49.7 | 54.5 | 53.2 | 55.3 | |
| Western Australia | Curtin University of Technology | 66.6 | 65.8 | 65.3 | 65.5 | 64.2 | 63.2 |
| Edith Cowan University | 56.8 | 56.7 | 57.7 | 57.5 | 55.4 | 53.5 | |
| Murdoch University | 54.1 | 53.0 | 50.0 | 51.6 | 49.6 | 50.9 | |
| The University of Western Australia | 76.9 | 75.8 | 76.3 | 75.6 | 74.5 | 74.1 | |
| South Australia | Flinders University | 68.1 | 67.3 | 65.8 | 65.1 | 62.5 | 62.2 |
| The University of Adelaide | 73.1 | 74.5 | 72.4 | 71.8 | 70.5 | 68.4 | |
| University of South Australia | 62.2 | 62.6 | 63.7 | 63.6 | 65.8 | 64.4 | |
| Tasmania | University of Tasmania | 64.5 | 62.3 | 61.7 | 59.5 | 62.7 | 60.6 |
| Northern Territory | Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education | 43.9 | 35.8 | 32.6 | 30.8 | 36.9 | 22.1 |
| Charles Darwin University | 46.0 | 44.0 | 42.4 | 43.3 | 41.8 | 41.2 | |
| Australian Capital Territory | The Australian National University | 79.8 | 80.6 | 77.8 | 79.8 | 81.0 | 81.1 |
| University of Canberra | 68.8 | 67.4 | 64.7 | 62.8 | 65.5 | 59.2 | |
| Multi-state | Australian Catholic University | 75.2 | 75.0 | 73.3 | 73.3 | 69.5 | 68.3 |
| Total for Table A institutions | 67.0 | 66.8 | 66.6 | 67.1 | 66.7 | 65.8 | |
| Table B institutions | |||||||
| Victoria | University of Divinity | 44.4 | 33.0 | 32.1 | 37.5 | 45.9 | 44.0 |
| Queensland | Bond University | 71.0 | 73.3 | 71.3 | 73.1 | 72.8 | 74.8 |
| Western Australia | The University of Notre Dame Australia | 68.3 | 71.4 | 74.4 | 77.3 | 75.2 | 73.8 |
| Total for Table B institutions | 68.0 | 70.5 | 71.2 | 74.7 | 73.7 | 73.4 | |
| Total for Table A and Table B institutions | 67.0 | 66.8 | 66.6 | 67.2 | 66.8 | 66.0 | |