ATAR score in firing line

Students get to uni via other ways

IS the ATAR’s number up? Data suggests emphasis placed on the final Australian Tertiary Admission Rank is misguided, with only one in four students gaining entry to courses this way.

The Victoria University Mitchell Institute study explored the emphasis placed on the ATAR and sought to determine if the system interfered with educational goals.

Institute director Megan O’Connell said the paper should prompt governments and educators to look at how young people were moving from school to further study and careers, and consider if the ATAR’s number was up.

“The question parents, students and teachers should be asking today is, if ATAR doesn’t matter for threequarters of undergraduate admissions, why is it treated as the most important outcome of 13 years of schooling,” Ms O’Connell said.

But Deakin University figures show it remains the primary entry mechanism for school leavers to study across the university’s campuses.

“If you’re a Year 12 student seeking to study at university the year after completing school, the primary entry mechanism is via the ATAR system,” a university spokeswoman said.

“In 2018, 45 per cent of commencing Deakin students came via the ATAR system, while 55 per cent were nonATAR entrants.”

Mitchell Institute researchers found it was a useful, transparent tool for universities to compare students when deciding entry to high demand undergraduate courses.

But changes to the tertiary sector have seen the number of students starting higher education grow by 46 per cent in less than 10 years and more avenues being used to gain entry.

They found this shift was not reflected in schools, where ATAR was often seen as the ultimate goal for students and their families.

ATAR students included all Victorian and interstate school leavers and international baccalaureate students.

“Non-ATAR students came via other means, primarily mature age or via other pathways (such as) TAFE,” the spokeswoman said.

Deakin pathways student recruitment manager Janine Kuster said there were many other ways for students to gain entry to university if they did not receive the ATAR they had hoped.

“It doesn’t mean you can’t get there, it just means you might have to go about it in a different way, so come and talk to us about what it is you want to do,” Ms Kuster said.