By Tom Kersten
Over the past five years, domestic student admissions have been dominated by independent schools, with the share of public school students declining by almost 10% over the same period.
The data shows that since 2018, more than half of all commencing domestic students attended an independent school.
Meanwhile, commencing students who attended a government school has been in decline since 2017, with a near 10% drop.
ANU accepted roughly 1,756 new domestic admissions on average from 2017 to 2020. A five-year high in admissions was reached in 2021, when ANU accepted 2,619 domestic students.
Government school students represented 34.4% of the 2021 domestic intake. 2017 and 2019, whilst having a lower domestic intake overall, held the highest proportion of domestic student acceptance in the five year period, with both sitting at roughly 40%.
The 2021 domestic intake also saw a proportionate high of independent school student acceptance, at 55%. Independent school students have remained the stable majority in intake demographics since 2017, with lowest acceptance numbers at 48% of the intake at the beginning of the five-year period.
2,114 domestic students commenced at ANU this year, less than the 2021 spike. 2022 saw a five-year low in admissions from domestic government school students, with such students representing 31.9% of intake. In contrast, independent school student intake reached a five-year high, at 57.1%.
In 2017, there was a 8% difference between the number of students coming from independent versus government schools, but this difference has only increased over time. As of 2022, there is a 25.1% difference with independent school admissions continuing to dominate.
The number of Catholic school students has remained stable, ranging between 10.4 – 11.4%.
Intake of students from regions outside of capital cities has been in decline in proportion to total intakes since 2019. The number of students from capital cities has been on a steady increase.
Reflecting on the data, a university spokesperson told Observer that “ANU was founded to benefit all Australians” and that “the university continues to attract and welcome a diverse range of high calibre students”.
“Any student who has the desire and the marks to study at ANU is welcome at our university” the spokesperson said.
