Undergraduates broaden study horizons as Covid stymies gap years

Coronavirus has prodded Australia’s notoriously parochial university students to broaden their horizons, as pandemic lockdowns and stymied international travel boost the appeal of interstate study.

Early admissions data suggest that the pandemic has exerted complex influences on Australian students, who traditionally favour nearby universities.

While tertiary admissions centres in New South Wales and South Australia both recorded 20-plus per cent increases in interstate applications, Victoria experienced a 10 per cent decline – suggesting that Melbourne’s 112-day coronavirus lockdown, one of the longest in the world, may have dented the city’s allure for students near and far.

And while universities have been reluctant to reveal their enrolment figures before numbers are finalised at the end of March, several – including the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra and James Cook University in northern Queensland – indicated that the proportion of interstate acceptances had not risen since 2020.

A source said the generally higher interstate applications suggested that many students had intended to compensate for lost travel opportunities by studying in distant cities, but fears of sudden border closures had discouraged some from following through.

Sydney’s Ava Lucas was among those who did, enrolling at the ANU for “a bit of an adventure” as well as for the institution’s approach to engineering education. She, like many fellow students from Sydney and Melbourne, had accepted an early offer in mid-2020.

Ms Lucas said interstate study had seemed particularly attractive once it became clear that her planned trip to the US and Europe could not proceed. “I think I’d be a bit upset if I’d taken a gap year, couldn’t travel anywhere and saw everyone at ANU having a good time,” she said.

Sydney’s biggest universities have managed to capitalise on the cross-border interest. UNSW Sydney said enrolments from interstate school-leavers were 17 per cent higher than in 2020. The University of Sydney reported a 27 per cent rise in acceptances from other states. “The current restriction on travelling overseas for a gap year may be a contributing factor,” a spokeswoman said.

On New Zealand’s South Island, the University of Otago – which, like ANU, is known for its residential colleges – reported a slight increase in the proportion of students from the North Island. Otago’s director of strategy, David Thomson, said most Kiwi applicants – unlike their Australian counterparts – had stuck with plans to study afar.

Attending universities away from home was already “ingrained” in New Zealand’s culture, he said. “We are not a federal system, so the risk of state border controls is not there,” he added.

Mr Thomson said Covid restrictions may have played a role in student movements, with a 10 per cent increase in new enrolments from the Auckland region possibly reflecting a desire to avoid the lockdown-prone city. But commencements from the Otago region had risen almost as strongly, he noted.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com