A new Data Insights Series report from the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES) shines the spotlight on the relationship between institution size and equity student participation rates across universities nationwide.

The report unpacks the latest available data from the Australian Government Department of Education, using correlations to assess the direction and strength of association between domestic undergraduate headcount and equity student participation in 2024.

It found larger universities had lower shares of equity students overall, with a distinct threshold cut-off observed at about 23,000 students where equity participation dropped off sharply.

Among individual groups, there were negative associations between university size and participation for First Nations Australian students as well as students from regional, remote, and low socio-economic status areas.

However, participation share was broadly independent of university size for students with disability and those who were the first in their family to attend university.

The report also examined the data for students from non-English speaking backgrounds and women in non-traditional areas of study, finding a weak positive association between university size and participation for both groups.

ACSES Senior Data Scientist David Raithel said the report contained useful insights for anyone working in the student equity data space, especially researchers and policymakers.

“The report highlights systematic differences in equity student participation between larger and smaller universities, with these relationships becoming more pronounced over time,” he said.

“By examining the relationship between university size and equity student participation, we can identify patterns across the higher education sector that point to broader structural influences.”

The full report, University size and equity participation, is now available on the ACSES Data Resources Hub.