ABSTRACT
Australia and its Higher Education System Australia has a population of 22 million, an average life expectancy for men of 79 and for women 83, and ranks 28th out of 173 in the Media Freedom Index. Its adult literacy rate is 99%; it has 2.5 doctors per 1,000 population and an adult HIV/AIDS rate of 0.1% (Guardian “World Fact Files,” 2009). In 2005, Australia spent $12,416 per student, compared with the OECD average of $10,655 per student and the WEI average of $4,451 per student (OECD/UNESCO WEI, “Table 2.13: Annual expenditure on educational institutions per student,” 2005).
