Many Canberra school leavers hoped they be would lucky on the second time around, The Canberra Times reported on its front page 27 years ago today.
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The class of '92 was rushing to enroll at the Canberra Institute of Technology to retake their year 12 certificate, with some taking the extreme measure of camping out at the institute's Reid campus to secure a spot.
A critical shortage of university places meant some students were going to head back and retake year 12 in an effort to get a better mark, and then make it to university. Far from the ideal gap year.
An estimated 285,000 potential students were in the bidding for 142,000 places at 35 universities. The Australian National University and the University of Canberra were offering about 4000 first-year places, expected to go to mature-age students over recent school leavers.
The federal government had pressured universities to preference mature age students, who were less likely to drop out than school leavers.
Minister for Higher Education Peter Baldwin directed universities to set aside no fewer than 62,000 places for school leavers this year. That was still less than half the total offered.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
