Equity in higher education and graduate labour market outcomes in Australia

Abstract

The rate of higher education participation in Australia has increased over the past decade for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. This study contributes to the knowledge on the outcomes of disadvantaged individuals who complete higher education by looking at the labour market outcomes of university graduates from equity groups. The number of Indigenous graduates and graduates with disabilities was found to be very low, suggesting that more needs to be done to improve higher education completion for these two groups. The labour market outcomes for other equity groups are mixed, with those from low socioeconomic status backgrounds and regional and remote Australia performing well in the labour market, while graduates from non-English-speaking backgrounds and female graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields experience substantial disadvantage in the labour market. The findings suggest that selection processes prior to the graduates' entry into the labour market are important.

Beyond Graduation: Socio-economic Background and Post-university Outcomes of Australian Graduates

“…For example, Hout (1988Hout ( , 1994 found no significant differences in occupational status among higher-education graduates from different social classes in the US. In Australia, Li et al (2017) found also no significant differences between low-and high-SEB graduates in the probability of being employed in a high-quality job and earnings. However, we also found support for Hypothesis 2, based on social and cultural capital, effectively-maintained-inequality and life-course theories.…”

Investigating cognitive holding power and equity in the flipped classroom

“…Equity can be achieved through affording all students access to excellent educational resources and teachers who can build academic learning inside and outside the classrooms ( Sleeter, 2008 ). In Australia, there is a need to study ways of enhancing equity among students ( Li et al., 2017 ).…”

The shifting labour market position of international graduates in Australia

“…Meanwhile, the local pool of young tertiary graduates in Australia has continued to expand in the past two decades (ABS 2008;Li and Miller 2013b;Kemp and Norton 2014;Harvey 2016), as also documented for other industrialised nations (Capsada-Munsech 2017;Li et al 2018). Initiatives such as the FEE-HELP loan scheme, the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships programme and the Widening Participation agenda were introduced to promote access to higher education, mainly amongst students who come from a disadvantaged background (Harvey 2016;Li et al 2017). In 2012, Australia further replaced a supply-driven education system that limited the number of university enrolments with a demand-driven framework to allocate funding based on student demand (Kemp and Norton 2014).…”

“…Further, the rising percentage of non-native English-speakers suggests potential declines in the English language proficiency of international graduates, which have been identified as one of the main factors contributing to their poor labour market outcomes in Australia (Birrell 2006a;Birrell and Edwards 2007;Birrell and Healy 2008;Arkoudis et al 2009;Hawthorne 2010Hawthorne , 2014Robertson et al 2011;Hawthorne and To 2014;Arber and Rahimi 2015). Further, non-native English-speaking graduates are vulnerable to discrimination and prejudicial treatment in the Australian labour market, as documented amongst Australians coming from a non-English-speaking background (Birrell and Hawthorne 1999;Ho and Alcorso 2004;Hawthorne 2005;Kler 2006;Green et al 2007;Chiswick and Miller 2010;Massey and Parr 2012;Tan and Lester 2012;Li and Miller 2015;Li et al 2017).…”

“…35 Further, these international graduates tend to engage with non-native Englishspeakers, particularly those coming from their home countries, both inside and outside the classroom, limiting improvements in their English language skills (Blackmore et al 2017). Importantly, nonnative English-speakers, including Australians coming from a non-English-speaking background, have been shown to be systematically disadvantaged in the Australian labour market (Birrell and Hawthorne 1999;Ho and Alcorso 2004;Hawthorne 2005;Kler 2006;Green et al 2007;Chiswick and Miller 2010;Massey and Parr 2012;Tan and Lester 2012;Li and Miller 2015;Li et al 2017).…”