Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a think tank with the University of the Sunshine Coast, who have a campus at Caboolture in my electorate of Longman. One of the issues they raised was that university placements are going backwards in this country.

A great discussion ensued and I relayed some of my thoughts, which I'd developed from listening to my constituents and from knowledge gained in my position as deputy chair of the Employment, Education and Training Committee.

There are two emerging factors that I've discovered, and they are these. The first is that more and more young people are taking up trades or vocations that don't require a university degree, as this generation seems to understand that you don't need to have a university degree to have a successful and fulfilling life, which is good news for those who are not wired for university education. The second factor is that more and more parents are sharing with me the fact that they are pulling their children out of state schools, home-schooling them or putting them into independent schools and discouraging them from taking up university degrees, as they don't like the increased focus on social issues. They simply want their children educated, not indoctrinated—their words.

So I say to universities out there: you have an opportunity to increase your enrolments by meeting the market expectations, and the ball is in your court. To increase enrolments, please, just appeal to a broader market.