Work in Progress
Unmet student demand for tertiary education
Summary
- Item:
- 10222
- Title:
- Unmet student demand for tertiary education
- Type:
- Managed research project
- Project no:
- NR3006
- Status:
- Finished
- Date commenced:
- 28 August 2003
- Contact:
- Margaret Giles
- phone: +61 8 9380 8673
- email: mgiles@ecel.uwa.edu.au
Purpose
The aim of this study is to examine unmet student demand for VET courses. Specifically the study will involve:
* Bivariate analyses of unsuccessful VET course applications in relation to such factors as reasons given for unsuccessful applications and individual characteristics
* Multivariate approaches to examine the relative importance of these factors
Approach
Literature review, analysis of SETIT 2001 data
Research questions
1. How has unmet demand been measured and analysed in previous studies? What is known about it in terms of prevalence, causes and policy?
2. What factors influence the decision to apply for VET studies?
3. What factors influence the outcomes of VET applications?
4. To what extent does selectivity bias influence the outcomes of VET applications?
5. Does systematic selection bias in application submission have implications for policy?
6. To the extent that there is unmet demand for VET and given the characteristics of that unmet demand, what are the appropriate policy initiatives?
Methodology
The study will involve:
Survey of relevant literature
Analysis of unit record file from ABS Survey of Education, Training and Information Technology (SETIT) for 2001
Organisations
Margaret Giles will lead the project and be involved in most aspects of the research, including the literature review, modelling, data review, modification and collation, estimation, extrapolation and report writing. She has previously worked with large and complex datasets, and undertaken various multivariate analyses including linear, log-linear and logit estimations. Margaret?s doctoral dissertation specifically examined the influence of selectivity bias on the costs of reported road crashes in WA. Margaret has extensive experience in economic and econometric analysis and previously lectured labour economics at Edith Cowan University.
Mike Dockery will provide background material and modelling assistance. He has extensive experience researching VET sector issues and has undertaken numerous multivariate analyses of training and related issues (Dockery, 2002). He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Curtin Business School at Curtin University.
Michael McLure will provide advice regarding the fundamentals of VET demand. He has recent research experience in this area (Birch et al., 2002). Michael is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Economics at UWA.
