Application Rates to Undergraduate Programs in Information Technology in Australian Universities

Over the past decade, there has been much discussion regarding both the supply and the current and potential demand for information technology-oriented graduates in Australia with numerous surveys and market analyses being undertaken. some surveys have focussed on the supply of graduates from the tertiary and VET sectors and their demand in Australian industry, while others discuss enrolment statistics into IT based University and VET sector courses. Few, however, investigate application rates to IT courses.At the same time, there has been a general, and in some cases significant, decline in the application rates for some science and engineering courses prompting universities to review their awards with a view to making them more attractive to students and industry. In many cases this has resulted in the development of more highly specialised awards and in others in substantial shifts in quota.In this paper we investigate application trends for information technology-oriented awards from a number of perspectives, including the market perceptions of the institution offering the degree and the manner in which the award is combined with other disciplines. Although this study takes advantage of the centralised admissions systems used in Australia, data available elsewhere shows that the results may be applicable more broadly.