Far from the studying crowd? regional and remote students in higher education

Abstract

Participation of students from regional and remote areas of Australia in higher education has remained static over the past 25 years. Regional students have lower rates of participation overall than their city-based peers, and are underrepresented in higher status disciplines and institutions, and at postgraduate level. Although the issues for regional students overlap significantly with those for low socio-economic status (SES) background students, developing solutions is made more challenging by the extent to which Australian cities concentrate economic and social resources. This chapter argues that policy on regional higher education has focussed on provision at regional campuses as the primary solution to increasing participation, rather than addressing deeper causal factors such as school achievement. Increased choice under the demand-driven system has seen students drift toward metropolitan campuses, although regional sites remain integral to providing local access. Reversing the long-term trend in regional participation requires a range of solutions that increase regional students’ options through increasing school retention and achievement, improving pathways from vocational education, realising the potential of learning technologies, and improving understanding of professional careers.