Non-Traditional Students in Australian Higher Education: Persistent Inequities and the New Ideology of `Student Choice'

Despite the expansion of access toAustralian higher education in the past decade, theparticipation shares of rural and isolated people andpeople from lower socioeconomic backgrounds havealtered little and remain unacceptably low. Thispaper reports findings from two national studies atthe Centre for the Study of Higher Education that haveexamined student choices about higher education,especially the inhibiting factors still present fornon-traditional students. The discussion focuses onthe dilemmas and challenges for Australianuniversities in balancing the adoption ofentrepreneurial approaches to student recruitment withan unfinished equity agenda. The paper raisesquestions about the new ideology of individual choiceinfluencing university policy and whether or not thiscan be reconciled with social equity objectives.