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Tertiary graduates

On a per-capita basis, Australia has more tertiary graduates than many of the world's leading developed nations.

Australia also ranks in the top three countries in the world for its tertiary gross completion ratio (i.e. the number of students completing university degrees as a proportion of the typical graduation age cohort of the population).  University graduates

The wide variety of opportunities available in Australia's services sector, particularly in the knowledge-intensive professional, technical and financial services industries, are reflected in the fact that 45% of Australian students graduated with social science, business and law degrees in 2010.  

According to the OECD, the scientific literacy of a country's students is an important determinant of the part that country will play in tomorrow's advanced technology industries. Australia's proportion of students who graduate with a science (including computer science) degree is higher than that of a number of other advanced nations.

Graduates by broad field of education (% of total graduates), 20111
Country Education2 Humanities and arts3 Social science, business and law4 Science5 Engineering, manufacturing and construction6
Australia11 8.2 10.4 44.5 8.8 7.8
New Zealand 12.5 14.1 32.7 11.9 6.4
Korea 7.8 17.5 21.2 7.3 24.6
United Kingdom 10.5 16.0 31.6 12.9 9.4
France12 1.3 10.1 42.5 10.6 15.5
United States11 10.3 12.5 38.0 8.5 7.0
Japan 7.0 15.1 27.3 3.1 17.2
Germany 9.4 16.2 22.7 12.7 14.2
Malaysia 9.9 6.5 32.8 10.3 27.3
Indonesia11 19.5 0.5 39.0 6.0 16.7
Table continued by field of education
Country Health and Welfare7 Services8 Other9 Total graduates Total graduates per million population Gross completion ratio10
Australia11 15.9 3.1 1.3 353,419 15,774 60.1
New Zealand 14.1 5.8 2.5 67,749 15,349 53.2
Korea 14.0 6.4 1.2 609,719 12,512 51.4
United Kingdom 16.3 1.5 1.8 754,310 12,083 44.7
France12 14.7 3.9 1.4 643,259 10,229 36.1
United States11 15.7 7.0 1.0 2,997,614 9,600 37.8
Japan 12.5 8.5 9.3 968,807 7,609 42.5
Germany 19.8 3.1 1.9 609,973 7,359 35.6
Malaysia 8.0 4.1 1.0 204,782 7,121 16.6
Indonesia11 6.2 0.0 12.1 811,455 3,372 14.6

Footnotes:

  1. Graduates from International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels 5 and 6. ISCED 5A programs generally equate to university undergraduate degrees, while ISCED 5B programs tend to be more vocationally-oriented.  ISCED 6 programs lead to the award of an advanced research qualification and are not solely based on course-work.
  2. Includes teacher training and education science
  3. Includes religion and theology, foreign languages and cultures, native languages, interpretation and translation, linguistics, comparative literature, history, archaeology, philosophy, ethics. Fine arts, performing arts, graphic and audio-visual arts, design, and craft skills
  4. Includes social and behavioural science, journalism and information, business and administration, and law
  5. Includes life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, and computer sciences
  6. Includes engineering and engineering trades, manufacturing and processing, and architecture and building
  7. Includes medicine, medical services, nursing, dental services, social care, and social work
  8. Includes personal services, transport services, environmental protection and security services
  9. Includes agriculture, forestry, fishing, veterinary medicine, and unspecified programs
  10. Gross completion ratio refers to all graduates in ISCED 5A programs (first degree) as a percentage of the population of the theoretical graduation age for that level of program
  11. 2010 data
  12. 2009 data  

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Public Reports: Education Statistics, 2013

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