Abstract
An attempt has been made to quantify the number of people graduating annually over the past decade from Australian tertiary institutions, at professional level, in the life sciences. During this period there has been a great increase in the number of students taking biology in senior secondary school studies, whilst total tertiary undergraduate enrolments have more than doubled. The number of physical science graduates each year during the period has remained static. The data show that in agriculture the growth corresponds to the general increase in tertiary studies. In the biological sciences there has been a big increase in absolute numbers but this also can be largely accounted for by the total enrolment growth. On the other hand, in the therapies there has been a virtual three-fold increase over the decade, in an almost exclusively female preserve. The total number of life science graduates throughout Australia has risen from 1700 in 1968 to over 3200 in 1977.