Year 11 uni entry unfair, UniSA chief Lloyd tells CEDA

Flinders and Adelaide unis allowing student entry on Year 11 results was a risky response to funding cuts, UniSA says. But the other unis disagree.

Giving students entry to university based on Year 11 results risks undermining the fairness of the system and was a rushed reaction to stressed finances, UniSA vice-chancellor David Lloyd says.

The response was understandable with international student intakes falling in the coronavirus pandemic and the federal government cutting funding for domestic students, Prof Lloyd told a Committee for Economic Development of Australia forum on Thursday.

The move “cannot be good for students”, Prof Lloyd said.

Both Adelaide and Flinders universities granted students early conditional offers to study this year, based on their Year 11 results from 2019 and ahead of their final Year 12 assessments.

The Federal Government’s Job-Ready Graduate reforms passed by parliament last year had reduced average funding per student.

This forced universities to teach more students to receive the same base funding levels, and continued a decade-long trend of reducing the importance of universities within the federal budget, he said.

David Lloyd, vice-chancellor of UniSA. Picture: Tom Huntley

“Organisations under stress tend to react for self-preservation,” Prof Lloyd said of the resulting pressure on unis.

“Costs are cut, jobs are shed. Alternate sources of funding are sought. Local disruption ensues.

“Locally, I would position, perhaps unfairly, the rushed introduction of year 11 guaranteed admission schemes in such terms.”

However, an entry based on Year 11 results removed the fair, level playing field of an externally moderated Year 12 result with the school-based assessments of Year 11.

“The equity of admission and the transparency of entry to higher education have been diminished,” he said.

“Perhaps with good intent. But with consequence.”

Both Flinders and Adelaide disputed Prof Lloyd’s views.

“He’s entirely wrong,” Flinders vice-chancellor Colin Stirling said.

The Year 11 offers had been conditional and “the vast majority exceeded the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Entrance Rank) required for the program they got into”, he said.

Prof Stirling said 2020 had been “pretty messy” for Year 12 students and creating the Year 11 pathway was a justified response.

Flinders is reviewing whether to keep a Year 11-result option open for 2022 entry.

“What’s interesting is that there is a challenge with ATARs,” he said.

“Some students pick subjects that will give them the highest ATAR, not necessarily the subjects they need such as advanced maths – even students wanting to do engineering don’t do advanced maths.

“So we want to look at whether some of the imperfections in the ATAR may be ironed out if students don’t feel that immense pressure to outperform in the ATAR.”

Adelaide University said at least 75 per cent of its students accepted conditionally on Year 11 results had scored an ATAR that would have gained entry – and the rest only were only a fraction below the ATAR cut-off.

Adelaide has committed to having a Year 11 option for 2022 entry.

“We’ll be closely monitoring the students we accepted this year,’ Adelaide vice-chancellor Peter Hoj said.

He shared Prof Stirling’s view that the pursuit of a high ATAR had the problematic outcome of Year 12s not necessarily picking the best subjects for their intended careers.

Adelaide interim deputy vice-chancellor Jennie Shaw said for 2022 entry, the Year 11 results would need to be at least As and Bs. This year Cs had been acceptable.

“We trust our school teachers,” Prof Shaw said of using school-based assessments.

Prof Lloyd also slammed the about-turn by the Federal Government on universities pursuing international students.

The Federal Government had been promoting growth in international students, he said, quoting then-federal education minister Dan Tehan who in 2019 said Australians should be proud of the sector and that the government looked forward to further growth.

Prof Lloyd said quite correctly the borders were closed because of the pandemic but international students were told to “go home” by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the sector and the students were denied federal support.

“By July 2020, that same once-proud Federal Government was now publicly decrying the flawed model of Australian universities and their ‘over-reliance’ on international student revenue,” Prof Lloyd said.

“Income diversification was no longer a good thing.”

Despite the blows inflicted on the sector, Prof Lloyd was confident South Australia’s universities would survive and prosper.