University heavyweights have labelled recent criticism of the system used by school leavers to apply for courses as a misunderstanding of the process.
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The Australia Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) has come under fire after a Fairfax Media report revealed students with marks up to 40 points below the advertised course cut-off were being accepted in fields such as business, teaching and engineering.
The New South Wales Vice Chancellors Committee (NSWVCC) rejected claims that changes to university admissions procedures represent a lowering of standards.
The Labor government took away most of the competition for courses in 2012 when it uncapped university places, allowing universities to cram in as many students as they could fit.
Previously, universities were funded for a set number of places per course, with no monetary incentive to go above that number.
NSWVCC Chair Professor Andrew Vann, who is also Charles Sturt University (CSU) Vice-Chancellor, said the system was misunderstood.
“The ATAR is not a mark but a ranking system,” Professor Vann said.
“As the system has expanded, it is now one of several pathways by which students are admitted to NSW universities.”
CSU Wagga sent 876 offers to students who applied directly to the university and 1212 offers were sent to students who applied through UAC for study this year. It is the first year CSU has accepted direct applications.
CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Toni Downes added the ATAR system works best for highly competitive courses.
“It does not work particularly well for predicting success across all university courses for students who have middle to lower rank scores,” Professor Downes said.
Professor Vann said the NSWVCC is working with the University Admissions Centre (UAC) to look at improvements to the admission processes.
“No university is interested in setting students up to fail ...” he said.
