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Welcome to the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success

The Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success acknowledges Indigenous peoples across Australia as the Traditional Owners of the lands on which the nation’s campuses are situated. With a history spanning more than 60,000 years as the original educators, Indigenous peoples hold a unique place in our nation. We recognise the importance of their knowledge and culture, and reflect the principles of participation, equity, and cultural respect in our work. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future, and consider it an honour to learn from our Indigenous colleagues, partners, and friends.

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You are reading: Equity participation targets and sector growth: How are we tracking between 2021 and 2024?

Equity parity targets and enrolment growth

Since the release of the Australian Universities Accord Final Report in February 2024, a key question for the higher education sector has been how progress towards its two central ambitions is tracking: the expansion of around one million additional students by 2050 and the achievement of equity parity by 2050. Importantly, these objectives are not necessarily dependent on one another—growth in overall enrolments does not automatically translate into equitable representation across equity groups.

In this report, we build on earlier ACSES work examining options for achieving equity participation parity by 2050 to ask: where are we now? Using the most recent available data, we examine changes in enrolment headcount and equity participation between 2021 and 2024 and assess progress towards 2050 parity targets

How to access the full report

The report is available for download in Word [1 MB] and PDF [2 MB] format.

The Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success Data Insights Series

The Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES) is an evidence-based research and public policy centre based at Curtin University and funded by the Australian Government Department of Education. ACSES is committed to providing the higher education sector with tangible proof of what works to improve the quality and impact of student equity practices in higher education.

The ACSES Data Insights Series reports on equity student participation and outcomes in Australian higher education. It focuses on trends among identified equity groups in domestic undergraduate enrolments in Australia, including, but not limited to:

  • low socio-economic status (SES) students
  • students with disability
  • First Nations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Australian students
  • regional students
  • remote students.

 

Download the full report:
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ACSES-Data-Insights-Equity-Participation-Targets-Oct26.pdf
2 MB
ACSES Quote icon
ACSES-Data-Insights-Equity-Participation-Targets-Oct26.docx
1 MB
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Disability Low socioeconomic status Regional and remote Resources Data Insights Series
Download the full report
Equity participation targets and sector growth: How are we tracking between 2021 and 2024?
ACSES, 2026
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