Students’ Transition between School and Tertiary Education: 2nd Edition

Completing a tertiary qualification is beneficial to both the individual and society. Students who come to tertiary education directly from school have higher completion rates, lower attrition rates and are more likely to go onto higher levels of study than other cohorts of students. The purpose of this document is to report on recent trends in school leavers’ transition between school and tertiary education.In the last ten years the proportion of school leavers going directly to tertiary education has increased dramatically, much of this growth is due to increases in enrolments in lower level certificate qualifications. Students who leave school to study at certificate level in the tertiary sector typically choose to study at the same levels available to them at school.This report found that academic achievement while at secondary school is a good indicator of a school leavers’ tertiary education enrolment behaviour.