Distributing Student Places in Australian Higher Education

Higher education systems need policies for distributing student places between higher education providers, courses and students. In supply-driven systems, government and university decisions dominate. In demand-driven systems, student choices play a larger role. Over the last 35 years Australia has moved from a supply-driven to a largely demand-driven university system and then partly back again. When students pay their own costs, both major political parties have supported market distribution of student places for decades. But for subsidised student places there is policy instability, due to fluctuating priorities for containing public expenditure and responding to demographic and labour market changes.