UAC's 2024 Student Lifestyle and Learning Report

UAC's fourth and biggest annual Student Lifestyle and Learning Report is here and features insights from nearly 17,000 Year 12 students across Australia.

The report voices the thoughts and feelings of school leavers as they prepare to enter university and the workforce. It explores their views on a range of topics, from course and uni selection to cost of living, personal finances, artificial intelligence and mental health.

Set against this report is the Australian Universities Accord and the work of our partners and policymakers to reshape the higher education sector. The report findings can help the sector meet the evolving needs of students and expand opportunities in tertiary education.

This report continues UAC’s commitment to contributing to an understanding of school leavers as they navigate a world of rapid social and technological change.

Key insights

• A majority of students (64%) consider employability outcomes when selecting a course to study in 2024, a rise of seven percentage points on 2023.
  
• Passion remains the strongest motivation for school leavers choosing a course at uni this year (80%).
• Cost as an influence on students' choice of institution rose almost 10% this year (from 34% to 43%).
• This pragmatic group of students are most concerned with traditional dinner table issues like supporting their family (42%), affordable housing (33%) and job security (29%).
• Most students (70%) harbour concerns that AI could lead to fewer jobs and 42% worry that AI will surpass human intelligence. That noted, this cohort accepts that they’ll have to work with AI, despite the risks.
• In uplifting news, mental health has fallen as a concern for students by 10 percentage points this year. While it is still a concern for 40% of respondents, this marks the best mental health score in the survey’s four-year history.

Download your copy of the Student Lifestyle and Learning Report 2024. If you would like to discuss any of the findings or information presented in this report, please contact us.