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Pick and choose
Students ’ subject combinations could hurt their performance .
University students who choose a
' fruit salad ' of subjects could see their performance deteriorate .
New analysis by University of Sydney researchers found that low-performing students who select a diverse combination of subjects often see a further dip in their performance , while those who are achieving an average mark of 70 and above appear unaffected and can mix and match as they please .
Lead author and Master of Complex Systems student Sooraj Sekhar said : " Students who were already treading water tended to become submerged with deteriorating grades when they chose atypical subject combinations , such as legal studies , civil engineering and biology .”
Dr Petr Matous , a network analysis expert from the School of Project Management , said : " The university has moved from a one-size fits all education model and is constantly trying to improve the offering of diverse combined degrees and multidisciplinary initiatives tailored to students ’ particular interests .
“ Our preliminary findings suggest that although accessing a unique combination of courses from distant disciplines can be enriching , there may be some students who might be better advised not to spread their bandwidth too widely , and stick to the more mainstream choices of the majority of their peers .”
The research applied methods of network science to 10 years ’ worth of student enrolment and performance data to better understand the patterns of students ’ subject choices .
The team calculated the relative similarity of all pairs of courses in terms of University of Sydney students ’ enrolments by quantifying the proportion of students who took both of the courses among those who took at least one of them .
The data in the study was anonymised , with a focus on Faculty of Engineering students .
Professor David Lowe , who was the associate dean of education for the Faculty of Engineering when the study was designed , said there was still need for engineering graduates to acquire a diverse skillset , despite the challenges highlighted by the analysis .
" As society ’ s challenges become more complex , it is increasingly important that our engineering graduates are able to draw on increasingly diverse perspectives and skills ," said Lowe . ■
TAFE for granted
Survey ‘ vindicates ’ need for TAFE funding increase .
A nationally representative sample of 1001 Australians aged 18 and over found that 94 per cent of respondents believed federal TAFE funding was important for the post-recession rebuild and recovery .
The question put to online respondents was : how important is it that the federal government increase funding to TAFE for the post-recession rebuild and recovery ?
While nearly all respondents said federal funding for TAFE was important to some degree , nearly half ( 45 per cent ) said it was “ very important ”.
The online survey was conducted by Fifty Acres-Pollinate , and applied 2016 ABS statistics on key demographics such as age , gender and region to ensure the sample was nationally representative .
Meredith Peace , federal deputy president of the Australian Education Union , said : “ This survey vindicates our call for the Federal Government to abandon the market model of vocational education and immediately increase TAFE funding .
“ We ’ ve just had a federal budget that was silent on TAFE and provided absolutely no new funding . Why is the Morrison government so ideologically opposed to doing what almost all Australian ’ s see as common sense – boost funding to TAFE for the sake of Australia ’ s recovery ?”
But the CEO of the Independent Tertiary Council of Australia ( ITECA ), Troy Williams , told Campus Review he disagrees with the AEU ’ s interpretation of the survey results .
“ The AEU ’ s commitment to public TAFE colleges is laudable ; however , it also colours their interpretation of the survey ’ s results ,” Williams said .
“ If the question was asked about an increase in funding for vocational education and training more generally , as opposed to funding for a particular type of provider , there is no reason to believe that the survey results would have been greatly different .” The ITECA CEO also said the AEU ’ s position contains “ a disconnect with the claims made by the AEU and the facts ”.
“ The AEU ’ s claims that measures in the budget provided absolutely no new funding for TAFE are wrong – it ’ s that simple ,” he said .
“ Through the JobTrainer program and the initiative to support around 100,000 new apprenticeships and traineeships , public TAFE colleges will receive , directly and indirectly , around $ 1 billion in funding .” ■
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