Problematising higher education enrolment policies in Australia and Taiwan: An examination of governing mechanisms and techniques

Higher education systems around the world have experienced massive expansion since the 1950s. Worldwide gross enrolment ratios in higher education have risen significantly – from approximately 3% in 1950 to 19% in 2000 and to 38% in 2018 (UNESCO, 2020) – and total student enrolments have increased by more than 370 million (OECD, 2019). Yet while higher education massification has been a shared characteristic across many regions, the individual enrolment policies employed by various nations, and the allocation of university places, in particular, have varied widely. These unique national case studies help us understand governments’ perceptions of student participation, what policies have been employed, and what changes in policies have occurred in mediating the limited resources and national priorities. Scant research has explored these cases, however, and how allocation mechanisms are made in their specific geopolitical contexts, or how different patterns of policy formation compare across national cases.
This study therefore compares two cases, Australia and Taiwan, to examine their formations of higher education (domestic) enrolment policies between 2005 and 2009. Their enrolment policies include the 2008 Bradley review and the Labor government’s response, 2009 Transforming Australia’s Higher Education System (colloquially called the demand-driven system), in Australia; and the 2009 Conditional Standards of Developmental Enrolment and Resources for Tertiary Education and the amended University Act of 2005, in Taiwan. By placing these two national cases in comparative perspective, this study aims to deepen our understandings of how university place allocations are made and remade at specific points in time and in unique socio-political climates.