Today, a global report issued a serious wake-up call for Australia’s higher education sector, revealing that a staggering 72% of Australian students believe universities care more about their reputation than educating them.
More than half of the students surveyed also believe universities are not teaching the right skills for today’s job market. The same number said not having a university degree was no obstacle to doing well in life, raising a clear challenge for a sector that relies heavily on enrolments.
The findings were contained in the inaugural Pearson Global Learner Survey, which captured the opinions of nearly 12,000 learners across 19 countries, including Australia, United Kingdom, China and the United States.
David Barnett, Pearson Asia Pacific Managing Director, said this was the first time the world has heard the collective voice of this many learners from across the globe on such a wide range of education topics.
“Like many of our Western markets in the study, Australian respondents demonstrated an openness to alternate pathways to learning - vocational or technical training is often believed to be a better path than a traditional 4-year degree,” Barnett said.
“This sentiment is even higher among younger populations like GenZ and Millennials who are beginning to feel that a formal education may not be as important as it once was.”
To illustrate this, a staggering 85% of students said learning is likely become more self-service – up 1% from the US (84%) and up 4% from the UK (81%).
Barnett said that while the majority in Australia feel that their education systems provide good foundational knowledge, colleges and universities are perceived as becoming “more out of reach for the average person”.
“Regardless, many Australians continue to recognise the need to upskill and re-skill throughout their lives,” he said.
“There is widespread recognition that there is no ‘one-and-done’ – you need to continually be upskilling and it happens within and outside the classroom.”
Despite this, said Barnett, few are actively upskilling.
“If they had to upskill, more than half would turn towards short training programs and bootcamps to learn on the job quickly rather than university programs,” he said.
“Australians demonstrate an openness to digital learning like smart devices, self-service learning, and YouTube, providing them opportunities to learn as they need to throughout their lives.”