Tertiary Education minister Chris Evans said on Tuesday the government expects to provide funding for more than 500,000 undergraduates places around the country, after recently freeing up caps on the numbers.
Removing the restrictions had opened the doors of universities to more students than ever before, he said.
"This data proves we are well and truly on track to achieving the target of 40 per cent of Australians aged between 25 and 34 to have achieved a bachelor degree by 2020," he said in a statement.The proportion of people with bachelor degrees has already grown since 2008.
"The jobs of the future are going to require higher levels of skill and knowledge - a university education is a ticket to the high paid, high skilled jobs of tomorrow," Senator Evans said.
"The higher the skills in our workforce, the better the outlook for our economy and productivity." (AAP)
