From 2002 to 2005, as overall university enrolments increased by about 7 per cent, IT suffered an 18per cent crash, says the study, The IT Education Bubble, by Ian Dobson of Monash University’s Centre for Population and Urban Research.

Commissioned by the Australian Council of Deans of Science the 56-page study reviewed trends over the period 2002 to 2005. Its analysis identifies a “considerable decline in information technology / computer science enrolments”.

By 2005, the number of information technology / computer science students was about the same as it had been in 2002 using the OLD counting methodology. In terms of the new methodology, there has been a decline of over 13,000 enrolments (18.5 per cent), at a time when enrolments overall increased by over 60,000 or 6.8 per cent.