Undergraduate Applications, Offers and Acceptances 2016

Type of University

The Group of Eight (Go8) received the largest share (22.2%) of applicants in 2016. The Australian Technology Network (ATN) universities, the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) and Regional Universities Network (RUN) received 16.6%, 14.1% and 9.0% respectively. Except the Go8 (-0.7% growth), all university groups recorded positive growth in applications from applicants. IRU recorded the largest increase in applicants

(5.8%), followed by the RUN (0.6%) and ATN (0.3%).

Table : Applicants by type of university (excluding WA TAC applicants)*, 2015 and 2016

Type of university	2015		2016		% Change in number of applications
	Number	Share (%)	Number	Share (%)
Group of Eight	73,510	22.8%	72,970	22.2%	-0.7%
Australian Technology Network	54,291	16.8%	54,479	16.6%	0.3%
Innovative Research Universities	43,678	13.5%	46,232	14.1%	5.8%
Regional Universities Network	29,422	9.1%	29,599	9.0%	0.6%
Australia (excluding WA)	322,779	100.0%	328,219	100.0%	1.7%

Notes: Total includes applicants applying to universities that are not aligned with a university group. *Applications made through WA tertiary admission centre are excluded due to the ‘half-year’ Year 12 cohort effect, but applications made directly by WA residents are included. Totals include missing /unknown postcodes which cannot be assigned to a state/territory.

4. Offers

   1. Number of Applicants Receiving Offers

In 2016, 208,595 TAC offers (excluding WA) were made, including double counting of applicants who had received offers in several states. When individual applicants receiving offers were counted, this number decreased to 195,635. On the other hand, 93,906 individual applicants received offers directly from universities (reduced from 96,126 direct offers). The total number of applicants receiving offers across Australia by May 2016, therefore was, 289,541 adding both TAC and direct applicants together.
Further analysis shows that that there was an overlap of 15,590 applicants who received offers through TACs as well as directly from universities, hence the number of individuals that received offers for a university place in 2016 was 273,951, an increase of 0.8% compared to 2015. Offers made to direct applicants made up of 32.4% of total offers in 2016.

Female applicants received the greater proportion of offers accounting for 59.3% of applicants who received an offer. This is consistent with university enrolments data for 2015 which shows that females accounted for 57.6% of domestic undergraduate students.

2. State and Territory

Queensland (2.5%), NSW (1.9%) and ACT (1.2%) recorded growth in applicants who received offers in 2016. All other states and territories recorded negative growth in applicants who received offers, ranging from -3.4% in WA to -0.8% in NT.
Table : Applicants receiving offers by state and territory (excluding WA TAC offers)*, 2015-2016

State/Territory	2015	2016	% Change
NSW	91,941	93,702	1.9%
Vic.	70,873	70,694	-0.3%
Qld	55,688	57,056	2.5%
WA	14,331	13,846	-3.4%
SA	20,813	20,686	-0.6%
Tas.	8,526	8,314	-2.5%
ACT	5,665	5,735	1.2%
NT	1,979	1,963	-0.8%
Total	271,646	273,951	0.8%

* Offers made through WA tertiary admission centre are excluded due to the ‘half-year’ Year 12 cohort effect, but applications made directly to WA universities are included. Totals include missing /unknown postcodes which cannot be assigned to a state/territory.
The following table shows there was moderate growth in offers in 2016 as the demand driven system matures.
Table : Applicants receiving offers, 2010-2016

Australia	Offers (including WA TAC offers)	Growth rate (including WA TAC offers)	Growth rate (excluding WA TAC offers)
2010	234,999	-
2011	244,431	4.0%
2012	256,472	4.9%
2013	267,244	4.2%
2014	272,155	1.8%
2015	280,672	3.1%	2.9%
2016	285,846	1.8%	0.8%

In 2016, the highest offer rate (the proportion of applicants who receive an offer) was recorded in Tasmania (92.8%), followed by Queensland (86.9%) and the ACT (86.3%). Offer rates fell in WA (down 6.4 percentage points), Tasmania (down 1.7 percentage points), Victoria (down 1.5 percentage points) and Queensland (down 1.0 percentage points).

Table : Offer rates by state and territory, 2015-2016

State/Territory	2015	2016	Change (p.p)
NSW	85.0%	85.7%	0.8
Vic.	80.8%	79.4%	-1.5
Qld	87.8%	86.9%	-1.0
WA	85.7%	79.4%	-6.4
SA	79.7%	80.3%	0.5
Tas.	94.5%	92.8%	-1.7
ACT	86.2%	86.3%	0.1
NT	75.9%	76.7%	0.8
Total	84.2%	83.5%	-0.7

3.