Investigating transitions to university from regional South Australian high schools

Investigating transitions to university from regional South Australian high schools

Sharron King, Cathy Stone & Chris Ronan

University of South Australia, Curtin University & The University of Newcastle Australia

This study examined why high-achieving students from regional South Australia were transitioning from school to university at lower rates than students in metropolitan areas. This comparative research explored the extent to which the factors identified in a previous New South Wales (NSW) report transcended Australian state borders, as part of the development of a national response to lower numbers of regional student transitions to university across Australia.

BACKGROUND

Across Australia, university participation is lower in the regions than metropolitan areas, with 20.5 per cent of people in Inner Regional areas obtaining a bachelor degree compared with 39.7 per cent in metropolitan communities. Attributable factors include the historic concentration of people and higher education infrastructure in metropolitan areas and the relative size and remoteness of Australia’s regional communities. This is a pronounced problem in South Australia (SA) where over 77 per cent of the population reside in Greater Adelaide — the location of the state's three major universities.

OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

Given SA’s unique demographic and geographical context, the key research question in this study was: Why are significant numbers of high-achieving school students in identified areas of regional SA choosing not to transition to university directly from school?

Subsidiary questions examined the impact of major influencers and barriers to participation, student housing and accommodation arrangements, other post-school options, and the availability of effective online learning platforms in shaping this outcome.

The research questions were explored through surveys and focus group discussions among Year 11 and 12 students, teachers, career advisors, and other school educators across 14 schools.

The study was framed in comparison to a 2017 NSW study conducted by Robyn Quin, Cathy Stone and Sue Trinidad.

KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Key findings

The study found there were similarities and differences between SA and NSW in terms of the ability of their regional students to access and succeed in higher education settings:

Similarities

• Cost played a significant role in decisions about university participation, particularly relocation and accommodation/living costs.

• Students generally lacked knowledge on financial supports such as scholarships and government benefits.

• Regional students had concerns about relocating for university, including loneliness; transition costs; and uncertainty around relocation and accommodation.

• The popularity of a gap year was high in both states.

• Access to adequate career advice and information was lacking, from both schools and universities.

• The regional students in an ATAR stream largely had aspirations towards university.

• Parental aspirations were high — most students reported that their parents were supportive of their aspirations.

Differences

• There was a widely-held perception amongst both students and school educators in SA that "local" is not as good as "city" when it comes to the quality of the university experience and ultimate qualification. This is consistent with the differences in the regional infrastructure between the two states.

• University outreach visits were not seen as helpful by either students or school educators in SA.

• Students and staff found visits to cities and university campuses much more helpful.

• In SA, boys appeared to be under more pressure than girls to "stay local" through undertaking a trade, finding local employment, or working on a family farm, rather than go to university. Additionally, the lack of course/subject availability at local campuses was perceived as an obstacle to pursuing a course of study locally.

• Fewer than 10 per cent of the fathers of students in the SA study had been to university, compared with 25 per cent of mothers, which may have impacted on parents’ and boys’ university aspirations.

• The greater geographical isolation of SA regional students resulted in fewer opportunities for transition to university for these students.

Summary of recommendations

Recommendations for universities

• Work with regional schools and their local communities, seeking input from all community stakeholders, to determine how university visits to schools can be improved and made more relevant to their needs.

• Ensure students, parents, and schools are proactively directed to accurate and easy-to-access information about costs, financial support, scholarships, and other practicalities of going to university.

• Expand peer mentoring programs to encompass transition support for both prospective regional students and first year undergraduates.

• Seek to collaborate with schools, local communities, and industries to develop innovative ways to increase the range and diversity of courses available to those living in regional areas.

• Work closely with Regional University Centres (RUCs) and regional campuses, with a view to encouraging and supporting online university options for regional high school students using their face-to-face support/ contact/technology infrastructure.

• Work with schools, students, and parents to develop a system by which contact can be maintained with students who have deferred a university place, providing students with an avenue to discuss and consider university options during their gap year.

Recommendations for governments

• Seek to improve incentives for universities to collaborate with each other and the RUCs to provide a greater diversity of course offerings in regional areas.

• Work with schools to ensure school career advisors are sufficiently resourced and supported through professional development and adequate time allocation, and kept up-to-date on career information and advice options, including online study options.

• Fund and support regional school excursions to universities, to expose students to knowledge about and experience of, university campuses, study options and support systems.

• Review support for regional students to ensure that university is affordable for all students.

• Focus on the individual circumstances of Australian states and territories in deciding on higher education investment.

Dr Janine Delahunty

Lecturer, Academic Development University of Wollongong

Dr Janine Delahunty

In this report, Sharron King, Cathy Stone and Chris Ronan explore the complexities around the transition to university of high-achieving students from schools in RRR areas in South Australia. When compared to their metropolitan counterparts, these students experience lower rates of transition to university.

Using comparative data from a similar study in NSW, this report carefully unpacks significant differences between the two states. This sets the stage for exploring some of the SA-specific regional, geographical, institutional, socio-emotional, and demographic factors.

The report moves towards a greater understanding around decisions to go to university (or not) through the perspectives of these high achieving students; in particular, exploring the barriers presented by geographical factors, as well as the influence of communities/families and school educators on students’ intentions and actions taken.

Among other key findings, the report finds that the capacity for students and families to make fully informed decisions, and act on them, was potentially hindered by insufficient knowledge, outdated, impractical or inauthentic information, and a general unease with university marketing strategies. The findings identify the importance of involving local communities and other "authentic" voices (such as previous students, or those with an understanding of RRR complexities) in addressing some of these barriers.

This report makes a valuable contribution towards constructing a national, nuanced, response to factors which enable or constrain school leavers from RRR areas, and also draws attention the need to account for variations between states.

ACCESS THE FINAL REPORT ONLINE

https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/transitions-university-regional-southaustralian-high-schools/