Student to staff ratio

Calculation of student to staff ratio

Student to staff ratio is calculated as the sum of student EFTSL (excluding work experience in industry) divided by sum of staff full time equivalence (FTE) in teaching and teaching/research functions, including actual casual staff. It does not include students or staff at campuses outside of Australia.

Numerator: students

The number of students is based on the equivalent full‑time student load (EFTSL) value. The EFTSL indicates the notional proportion of the workload which would be applicable to a standard annual program for a student undertaking a full year of study of a particular course.

Exclusions

  • Open Universities Australia
  • Offshore students
  • Work experience in industry

Denominator: staff

The number of staff is based on full‑time equivalence at the reference date, and includes full‑time, fractional full‑time and actual casual staff.

Exclusions

  • Open Universities Australia
  • Estimated casual staff (uses actual)
  • TAFE work sector
  • Non‑academic organisational units
  • Non‑teaching staff

Calculation of student to staff ratio by AOU Group

The student to staff ratio by AOU Group requires all Academic organisational units (AOUs) to be assigned an AOU Group. The AOU Group represents the main field or subject area for that AOU, and is calculated from the Discipline Groups for all students taught by that AOU.

Coding AOU's to the Classification

1. Method

The code to be assigned to an AOU is determined from an analysis of the distribution of student load within narrow discipline groups (which comprises the first 4 digits of the Discipline Classification – Classification of Higher Education Discipline Groups) of that AOU as follows:

  • The EFTSL attributed to the functioning AOU is calculated, with the EFTSL associated with different narrow discipline groups separately identified.
  • If 70 percent or more of the EFTSL attributed to the AOU is accounted for by one narrow discipline group, then the AOU group code in identical to the code for that narrow discipline group.
  • If no single narrow discipline group accounts for 70 percent or more of the EFTSL attributed to the AOU, then the AOU group code is determined in the following way:
    • The branch of learning (broad discipline group) which accounts for the largest share of the EFTSL is then determined. Branches of learning comprise the first tier of the classification in Classification of Higher Education Discipline Groups; there are 12 branches of learning and their codes correspond to the first 2 digits of the codes for the various discipline groups.
    • The first 2 digits of the AOU group code are set equal to the code for the branch of learning.
    • The seconds 2 digits of the AOU group code are set equal to '00'. In effect, this assigns a 'General' AOU group code to the AOU.

2. Examples of calculation

As the first example, the following data might be generated for an AOU with an industrial engineering orientation:

Branch of learning (broad discipline group) Discipline group code (narrow discipline group) Narrow Discipline group name EFTSL value EFTSL%
05 0501 Agriculture 102 4
05 0505 Forestry 254 10
06 0603 Nursing 260 11
06 0605 Pharmacy 1853 75
Total     2469 100

In the above example, the single narrow discipline group 0605 – Pharmacy, accounts for 75 percent of the AOU's EFTSL and hence the appropriate AOU group code would be 0605.

As a second example, the following data might be generated from an AOU with a less homogenous orientation:

Branch of learning (broad discipline group) Discipline group code (narrow discipline group) Narrow Discipline group name EFTSL value EFTSL%
06 0603 Nursing 1245 40
06 0605 Pharmacy 250 8
07 0701 Teacher Education 804 25
08 0801 Accountancy 346 11
08 0807 Tourism 500 16
Total     3145 100

In this example, no single narrow discipline group accounts for 70 percent or more of the AOU's EFTSL. The branch of learning with the largest share of the AOU's EFTSL is 06 – Health. This branch of learning accounts for 48 percent of the AOU's EFTSL. Therefore, in this case the AOU group code would be formed by taking the digits 06 corresponding to the Health branch of the learning code, following them with 00, the 'General' code. The full AOU group would therefore be 0600. Using the classification, the name of the AOU group in this case would be 'Health – General'.

Additional Notes

  • If the Delivery location country code (E660) reported against the unit enrolment is not '1101', then the student is considered to be studying offshore and will not be included in the Student to Staff ratio report.
  • If the Delivery location postcode (E477) reported against the unit enrolment is an Australian postcode, then the student is considered to be studying onshore and will be included in the Student to Staff ratio report.
Application of glossary term:
  • Statistical outputs