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About Sydney and NSW > People, skills and education

Tertiary Qualifications

New South Wales has the highest number and proportion of people aged 15-64 with a post-school qualification of all Australian States, with more than 2.5 million or 56% of residents in this category. Over 1 million working-age people in New South Wales hold a bachelor or higher degree as of May 2008.

New South Wales boasts 11 universities, of which two institutions are ranked in the top 50 in the world by the THES-QS World University Rankings 2008 (the University of Sydney and University of New South Wales).

The State also boasts 27 non-university higher education providers, and around 500 professional and vocational education organisations with over 3,300 delivery locations across the State. Technical and Further Education (TAFE) New South Wales is the largest vocational education and training provider in Australia, and one of the largest in the world. It comprises 10 institutes spanning 140 campuses across the State, and has a total course enrolment of around 500,000 students.


Tertiarty qualifications by State, persons aged 15-64, 2008 ('000) 1

Qualification NSW VIC QLD SA WA Other 2 Australia
Bachelor degree or higher 1056.8 832.7 513.8 195.5 280.3 158.1 3,037.20
Postgraduate degree 191.3 155.2 83.5 27.4 47.0 30.8 535.2
Graduate diploma/graduate certificate 102.1 96.9 42.2 26.7 31.3 18.9 318.1
Bachelor degree 763.4 580.6 388.1 141.4 202.0 108.4 2,183.9
Advanced diploma/diploma level 440.9 308.3 220.8 74.6 133.8 56.3 1,234.7
Certificate level 997.3 703.6 659.2 238.3 309.2 129.4 3,037.0
Level not determined 44.3 39.5 42.0 9.9 18.4 9.0 163.1
Total with tertiary qualifications 2,539.3 1,884.2 1,435.7 518.2 741.7 353.0 7,472.1
Without tertiary qualifications 1,998.9 1,570.3 1,331.2 504.4 674.1 299.7 6,378.6
Total  4,538.2 3,454.5 2,766.9 1,022.6 1,415.8 652.7 13,850.7
% with tertiary qualifications 3 56.0 54.5 51.9 50.7 52.4 54.1 53.9



Footnotes:
1: Excludes overseas residents in Australia, members of the permanent defence forces and persons permanently unable to work.
2: Includes Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.
3: Persons with tertiary qualifications as a percentage of total persons aged 15-64.

Source: ABS Cat. No. 6227.0, May 2008.