EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Key features of the sector in 2011-2013
The Australian higher education sector comprised:
- 37 ‘Table A’ public universities
- Three ‘Table B’ private universities (Bond University, MCD University of Divinity and the University of Notre Dame, Australia)
- Two ‘Table C’ providers (Australian branches of overseas universities – Carnegie Mellon University and University College London)
- One ‘Table A’ non-university provider (Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education)
- Three other self-accrediting higher education providers (Torrens University Australia Ltd, the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and the Australian College of Theology)
- Around 130 non self-accrediting higher education providers registered by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). The non self-accrediting higher education providers are a very diverse group of specialised, mainly state government or private bodies that range in size and offer courses in areas such as business, information technology, theology, hospitality, health, law and accounting.
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Higher education providers are required to be registered under Part 3 of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011(Cth) and listed on the National Register of Higher Education Providers. The number of students undertaking higher education courses at Australian higher education providers rose from 1,221,008 in 2011 to 1,313,776 in 2013 (Table 1). The number of students receiving assistance through the HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP schemes is at Table 2.
In 2013, the end of the reporting period:
- Around 860,000 students were assisted in meeting the cost of their higher education place through discounts and loans under the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP including HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP).
- Five non self-accrediting higher education providers were newly approved to offer FEE-HELP to students.
- Publicly funded higher education providers received, on average, around 58.6 per cent of their operating revenue from Australian Government grants and payments on behalf of students who take out HELP loans or receive discounts for upfront payments.
- 120,355 people (full-time equivalent (FTE), including actual casual) were employed by the major higher education providers, which had $26.3 billion in total revenue.
Details of the publications, reviews, discussion papers, and legislative changes for the period 2011 to 2013 are listed at Attachments A to G.
Read more: Higher Education Report 2011-2013 (6Mb)
Australian Government Department of Education and Training 2015, Higher Education Report 2011-2013, https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/higher_education_report_2011-2013_final_web.pdf