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STEM AND NON-STEM QUALIFICATIONS

Of the 2.7 million people with a higher level qualification in a STEM field, one in five (521,000 or 19%) also had qualifications in a non-STEM field.

Just over 2.4 million (89%) of those with higher level STEM qualifications reported that their highest non-school qualification was in a STEM field. Of this group, one third (35%) reported a university level STEM qualification as their highest, while the remaining two thirds were at the vocational level.

One quarter (25%) of those with a higher level qualification in Natural and physical sciences reported that their highest qualification was in a different field of study (either STEM or non-STEM). Among those with a qualification in Agriculture, environmental and related studies, 18% reported that their highest qualification was in a different field. There were also 18% of people with a qualification in Information technology whose highest qualification was in a different field, while around one in ten (11%) of those with a qualification in Engineering and related technologies indicated that their highest qualification was in a different field. In some instances the highest qualification was in another of the STEM fields, although in the majority of cases the highest qualification was in a non-STEM field of study.

There were 310,700 (11%) among the STEM qualified population who indicated that their highest qualification was in a field other than STEM [1]. Of this group, two in five (41%) reported that their highest qualification was in the field of Management and commerce. Around one in five (19%) identified their highest qualification as being in Society and culture. A further 13% listed their highest qualification as being in the field of Education, and 11% in the field of Health.

WHEN STEM QUALIFICATIONS WERE ATTAINED

Of the 2.4 million people who reported that their highest non-school qualification was in a STEM field, almost half (47%) had completed their qualification prior to 1991. Around one in five (21%) completed the qualification between 1991 and 2000 and a further 18% between 2001 and 2006. The remaining 14% completed their highest non-school qualification between 2007 and the time at which the survey was run in 2010-11.

[1] People in this category are often not identified as having STEM qualifications as many ABS collections only record details of respondents' highest qualification.