June 2010     Almost half of government school graduates who have headed to university this year are from disadvantaged backgrounds.  Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said the annual student destination survey, On Track, shows more school leavers from low socio-economic backgrounds than ever before are attending university.

Of the government school students going to university, 42.5 per cent are now from the lowest two socio-economic status groups, compared to 32 per cent last year and 27 per cent in 2008.

This year’s survey also revealed that more school leavers than ever before are heading to university, TAFE or into further education. Those school graduates taking up further education or training has increased to 75.3 per cent, up from 71.7 per cent last year.

The number of government school leavers attending university also increased, from 37.3 per cent last year to 41.2 per cent.

This year’s survey also shows:

• the number of school leavers enrolled at university has increased from 45.4 per cent last year to 48.8 per cent this year
• the number of students who have deferred their tertiary place has dropped to 9.8 per cent, down from 12.2 per cent last year
• the number of students who entered TAFE has remained at 18 per cent
• 88 per cent of students who deferred a tertiary place are now in jobs
• the number of students who started an apprenticeship or traineeship has increased from 8 per cent to 8.5 per cent this year
• the number of students in full time work has dropped slightly from 4.7 per cent to 4.4 per cent.

More than 36,000 school-leavers took part in this year’s survey.

From information provided by the DEECD, Victoria, June 7, 2010.

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