Once the most popular field of study, Education has suffered the sharpest drop among 27 fields of study included in the analysis, tumbling to just 8.3 per cent of commencing students in 2015 from a high of 17.5 per cent in 1989, the earliest available data.

"Education had a big crash in the early 1990s because there was an oversupply of teachers. [Then premier] Jeff Kennett started sacking teachers in Victoria, among other things, and people realised there weren't jobs in education and they moved elsewhere," said Grattan Institute Higher Education Program director Andrew Norton.

"In more recent years we've again seen Education applications go off the boil ... and that reflects bad news in NSW and other jurisdictions about graduate outcomes."

Although far less popular than Education - which remains one of the three most popular fields of study - Mathematics, Agriculture and Economics have also lost ground. Commencing enrolments in these fields fell by at least half in 2015 compared with 1989.

But the most stunning reversal of fortune over the past three decades is in Computer Science, which saw its share of commencing students halved in just five years. In 2001, it accounted for 9.1 per cent of commencing student enrolments. By 2006, this had fallen to 4.5 per cent.

The chart below (in yellow) shows the steep surge in enrolments during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, and the sudden decline after the bubble burst in 2000.

Mr Norton said changes in the popularity of fields of study reflected movements in the graduate labour market, particularly in well-publicised jobs.

"So Health has done very well in recent years, which fully reflects very strong demand for health occupations," he said.

"Particular areas of Engineering have dropped significantly since the mining boom went bust."

Graduate Careers Australia Policy and Strategy Adviser Bruce Guthrie said labour market trends tended to affect areas such as Humanities and Social Sciences less than areas such as IT and Accounting "where people go into those fields with an eye to employment".

<!--cke_bookmark_83S--><!--cke_bookmark_83E-->

The analysis reveals that five courses have broken away from the pack when it comes to the fastest-growing fields over the 27-year period.

Banking and Finance has increased its share of commencing students four-fold to 1.5 per cent, leapfrogging six places to a ranking of 17th out of 26 fields of study. (The ranking chart below excludes Mixed Programs.)

Psychology has lifted its share more than three-fold to 3.1 per cent, surging to a ranking of 12th in 2015, from 21st in 1990.

&<span class="scayt-misspell-word" data-scayt-word="nbsp">nbsp</span>;

Health - which includes areas such as Human Movement, Pharmacy, Paramedical Studies and Complementary Therapies - has trebled its share to 6.1 per cent, jumping to fifth place from 11th in 1989.

Media/Communications and Law round out the five, each more than doubling their share of enrolments. Media now accounts for 3 per cent of commencing enrolments, skipping to 12th from 19th in the rankings; and Law, 3.6 per cent, with a 2015 ranking of 10th, up from 14th in 1989.

Business Studies has not only topped the rankings since 1995 - it has also increased its share of commencing enrolments. One in five commencing students in 2015 enrolled in Business Studies, up from one in seven in 1989.

Mr Norton said the trend was "probably entirely" driven by international students. "In relative terms it's actually become less popular for domestic students," he said.

The flood of women into universities during the 1970s and 1980s has transformed the gender balance in many professional fields of study.

The most dramatic change was in PR/Marketing/Advertising, where women made up 58 per cent of commencing students in 2015, compared with 37 per cent in 1989.

The story is similar in Law, where the proportion of women has risen to 60 per cent from 45 per cent in 1989, Medicine (54 per cent, up from 44 per cent in 1989) and Accounting (51 per cent, up from 40 per cent in 1989).

Mr Guthrie said student choices can be affected by "strange things".

"I remember Vet Science was strongly male in the 70s and 80s. Then came a TV show called A Country Practice, which featured a female vet. Anecdotally, that strongly drove enrolments of women in veterinary science," he said.

Data notes: Figures for some fields of study are estimates (+/-4 students) as the Department of Education does not publish counts below five. From 1997, students in combined courses are included in both fields of study. Data coded with the assistance of Bruce Guthrie.