An increasingly competitive job market is driving more and more Australians to pursue a second degree, particularly 25 to 34-year-olds, with 7% of people now holding a postgraduate qualification.
Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as part of the 2016 Census found that Australians are upskilling like never before, with 56 per cent of Australians aged 15 years and over – 9.6 million people – now holding a post-school qualification.
The census also found a 46 per cent jump in the number of people with postgraduate degrees over the past five years and a 123 per cent increase since 2006. Nearly 1 million Australians now hold postgraduate academic qualifications.
Number of Australians with non-school qualifications – by Level of Education
 |
2016
|
2011
|
Growth (%)
|
| Postgraduate Degree Level |
921,029
|
631,121
|
45.9%
|
| Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate Level |
377,539
|
297,280
|
27.0%
|
| Bachelor Degree Level |
2,882,838
|
2,340,509
|
23.2%
|
| Advanced Diploma and Diploma Level |
1,687,893
|
1,393,046
|
21.2%
|
| Certificate III & IV Level |
2,995,150
|
2,653,127
|
12.9%
|
| Certificate I & II Level |
215,505
|
211,972
|
1.7%
|
Census Program Manager, Bindi Kindermann said attaining a university qualification remained an achievement Australians strive for, with close to one quarter (24 per cent) of youths and adults in the 2016 Census having completed a Bachelor Degree or above, up from 18 per cent a decade ago.
“The Census has also revealed that those who go on to study at university aren’t necessarily stopping with just a Bachelor Degree, with more people than ever achieving Postgraduate qualifications,” Ms Kindermann said.
“The number of people with Postgraduate Degree qualifications increased from 631,000 in 2011 to 921,000 in 2016, a jump of 46 per cent. The past five years have also seen significant increases in the number of people with Graduate Diplomas or Graduate Certificates as their highest level of qualification (27 per cent).
Residents of Australia’s capital cities (30 per cent) were almost twice as likely as residents in regional areas (16 per cent) to hold a Bachelor Degree or higher qualification, while people in capital cities were also more than 2.5 times as likely to hold a Postgraduate Degree level qualification (7.0 per cent in capital cities vs 2.7 per cent outside). However, 23 per cent of people in regional areas hold a Certificate III & IV level qualification, compared to just 16 per cent of people in capital cities.
Management and Commerce remained the most popular field of study across Australia (2.1 million people, an increase of 23 per cent since 2011) ahead of Engineering and Related Technologies (1.7 million people, an increase of 11 per cent).
Total persons with qualifications – by Field of Study
|
2016
|
2011
|
Growth (%)
|
|
|
|||
| Management and Commerce |
2,149,808
|
1,744,947
|
23.2%
|
| Engineering and Related Technologies |
1,675,632
|
1,509,939
|
11.0%
|
| Society and Culture |
1,290,481
|
999,396
|
29.1%
|
| Health |
1,076,430
|
873,497
|
23.2%
|
| Education |
845,774
|
714,086
|
18.4%
|
| Architecture and Building |
634,774
|
546,495
|
16.2%
|
| Food, Hospitality and Personal Services |
556,774
|
486,133
|
14.5%
|
| Creative Arts |
402,354
|
324,951
|
23.8%
|
| Information Technology |
345,724
|
277,924
|
24.4%
|
| Natural and Physical Sciences |
331,522
|
272,963
|
21.5%
|
| Agriculture, Environmental and Related Studies |
222,831
|
196,246
|
13.5%
|
|
|
|||
Highest growth sub-categories (6 digit level)
|
2016
|
2011
|
Growth
|
|
|
|||
| Accounting |
408,572
|
344,383
|
64,189
|
| General Nursing |
453,279
|
389,257
|
64,022
|
| Business Management |
227,628
|
166,166
|
61,462
|
| Care for the Aged |
97,024
|
60,702
|
36,322
|
| Children’s Services |
153,891
|
121,016
|
32,875
|
|
|
|||
