Timeframe
2012-2013
Funding
COMPASS staff
Gerard Cotterell
Martin von Randow
Karl Parker
Collaborators
Adrienne Cleland
Pamela Moss
Walter Fraser
Description
This project was undertaken for the University of Auckland’s Planning Office to assist in its decision-making processes for capital investment and future student enrolment planning. It sought to answer the question of whether the forecasted number of students coming through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subject areas justified or required additional resourcing from the University.
This had potential implications for long-term capital expenditure with, say, possibly needing to invest in extra capacity for engineering students. In addition, the University needed to be as sure as it could be that enough students were leaving school having studied the subjects necessary to do engineering and, as importantly, that they wanted to continue in engineering.
Previous known retention rates were used to predict numbers in each school year over the 2012–2022 period, and models were used to forecast University enrolments across the country, with breakdowns by demographic groups, faculties, and universities.