Research Database

Investigating transitions to university from regional South Australian high schools

Type of Publication: Research report

Lead Organisation: Country Universities Centre

Lead Researcher: Sharron King

Written by Professor Sharron King1, Dr Cathy Stone2, Chris Ronan3

This research sought to identify why high-achieving students (i.e., those in years 11 and 12
in an ATAR1 stream) from regional South Australia (SA) are transitioning from school to
university at lower rates than students in metropolitan areas. Additionally, the project aimed
to build an interstate comparison between previous NCSEHE research conducted in NSW
on the same issue (Quin, Stone, & Trinidad, 2017).
Compared with students at metropolitan high schools, students at regional and remote high
schools are less likely to complete high school, less likely to apply to university, less likely to
accept a university offer and, for those who do take up a university offer, they are twice as
likely to defer it and less likely to complete their degree (Commonwealth of Australia, 2019,
p. 14). Additionally, regional students from high socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds
are more likely than those from low SES backgrounds to take up their deferred university
positions the following year (Polesel, 2009).

Read the full report here: Investigating transitions to university from regional South Australian high schools


1University of South Australia

2The University of Newcastle & NCSEHE

3Country Universities Centre

Posted 14 February 2022