Universities are gathering unprecedented amounts of information about students' online academic activities and backgrounds, helping to predict those who are most likely to fail.
Many universities are introducing programs that monitor how long students use internet course materials and libraries and their digital interactions with students and lecturers.
University of Technology Sydney deputy vice-chancellor Shirley Alexander said a program to be introduced next week would create graphs based on the online exchanges students had with the university.
''Then it provides tailored advice to each student about how they can improve,'' she said.
Students will have sole access to the program. Professor Alexander said she believed UTS was the only university to extend the practice of analysing massive amounts of data to all its departments, including research and corporate services.
Monash University has conducted trials tracking student data in areas such as psychology and literature.
Monash deputy vice-chancellor Adam Shoemaker said the trials allowed students to monitor how much they were reading and compare it to the median reading level of their class.
At Deakin University teachers can see their students' online profiles and make contact with them if there has been no digital activity.
Deakin University deputy vice-chancellor Beverley Oliver said online systems would become more sophisticated in future and issue alerts if groups of students were struggling.
''It will be a signal to the teacher to potentially keep an eye out and offer extra help for students at risk of failing,'' she said.
While universities have access to vast amounts of student information, Professor Oliver said they still had to act within privacy legislation.
Griffith University technology-enhanced-learning lecturer Jason Lodge said the trend known as learning analytics was fast spreading across the tertiary sector.
He said universities were also analysing details about student demographics, including cultural background and high school performance, to help find students at risk of dropping out.
''Almost every university is interested in it now,'' he said.
Dr Lodge said Griffith University was sifting through massive amounts of student data to create a ''triage system'' so staff could intervene if students appeared to be struggling.
But a recent report by the Grattan Institute said some students might be nervous about data records being kept for other purposes, including employers who wanted to see their learning profiles. ''Students may not like the idea of institutions playing big brother in tracking their every move,'' the report said.
Dr Lodge said the trend presented ''big ethical implications'' about monitoring students' study habits. But he believed most universities made it clear to students why they were gathering the data.
''At some institutions students can say they don't want to be monitored.''
National Union of Students president Jade Tyrrell said most students were unaware that universities had so much information about them.