Walk or Travel? Student's choices in Attending the Sandy Bay Campus of UTas

Historically, universities have provided higher education to generally “elite” students from high income, highly educated families. Typically, students left home to live on campus to engage fully in university activities, educationally, socially and culturally. This traditional style of university education is still the case in many developing countries, including my home country of China. In recent decades, the expansion of university education to encourage a broader cross-section of society to receive higher education has seen an increase in “non-traditional” students. The term “non-traditional” applies to a mix of various backgrounds including greater proportions of female students, students from ethnic minorities, mature aged students, students working full- or part-time, and students from families whose parents themselves had little experience of university education. In Australia the expansion of the university student population following the Martin Report in the 1970s and the creation of a number of suburban universities under the auspices of the Australian Universities Commission led to a vast increase in enrolments from non-traditional students including, in more recent years, the inclusion of students from interstate and overseas. The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is the only University in Tasmania and has several campuses, in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie. Students attending the Sandy Bay campus of UTAS include those who leave home to seek ii accommodation either on campus or in rented accommodation near to the university (including those from beyond the Hobart urban area as well as interstate students and international students like myself) and students, mainly from the Hobart urban area, electing to live at home with their parents or partner. This purpose of this study is to investigate the travel behaviour of students attending the Sandy Bay campus and to examine the factors influencing their choice of travel mode. Research was undertaken using both a questionnaire approach and an invitation to students to participate in the completion of travel diaries. By describing the travel behaviour of students and identifying the key factors influencing their choice of travel mode, it is hoped that the research can inform the outcomes of the UTAS Master Plan 2007