6272.0 - Participation in Education, Australia, Sep 1999  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/04/2000  Ceased
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MEDIA RELEASE

April 27, 2000
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
46/2000
More Young Australians Involved in Education - ABS


There has been a significant increase in the past year in the number of young Australians seeking educational qualifications.

An ABS report released today shows that 55 percent of Australia's 15 to 24 year old population of 2,646,200 were participating in education at September 1999. This compares to 51 percent in 1998 and 49 percent in 1994.

Some 1,456,500 students were either attending a school (734,700), a higher education institution (425,900), a TAFE (237,100) or were among the 58,900 who attended courses run by business colleges, industry skills centres or other educational institutions.

The number of students in this age group has risen by 144,700 since 1994, with the largest growth among full-time tertiary students, up by 24 percent (92,400).

The 721,800 15 to 24 year olds attending tertiary education in September 1999 was an increase of 59,600 over the 1998 figure. This resulted in an education participation rate of 27 percent, 2 percentage points higher than in 1998.

Persons born overseas continued to have a higher education participation rate (62 percent) than persons born in Australia (53 percent).

Sixty per cent of tertiary students had previously attended government schools. At higher education institutions this figure was 53 percent and at TAFEs 72 percent

Females outnumbered males by 32,500 at higher education institutions. The reverse was true at TAFE where 59,300 more males than females were enrolled.

Full details are published in Participation in Education (Persons aged 15 to 24), Australia (cat. no. 6272.0) available at all ABS bookshops. The summary of the publication's main findings may be found on this site. If you wish to purchase a copy of this publication, contact the ABS Bookshop in your capital city.