Australian Higher Education System

As of 2009, the Australia higher education system had 41 universities. 37 of the universities are public, 2 are private, and 2 of them are Australian branches of universities that are located overseas. There are also 3 self-accrediting higher education institutions. There are also dozens of smaller schools that do not grant any degrees or have accreditation – these are private schools that focus on theology, business, information technology, natural therapies, hospitality, health, law and accounting.

Most Australian universities are self-accrediting institutions that each run under a legislation (usually at the state or territory level). They get most of their funding from the Australian government through the Higher Education Support Act 2003. This act put the existing aims of universities into legal terms, recognized each of the universities, and introduced measures to strength the knowledge base of the country. Essentially, this act made it so that Australian universities were able to obtain money from the federal government via grants and loans.