Revealed: Full list of Queensland university ATAR cut-offs

The minimum ATAR for Queensland university courses has been revealed with entry ranks plummeting for major courses. SEE THE LIST

University courses are now easier to get into for Queensland students, with ATAR cut-offs today revealing a number of courses have had their entry ranks reduced.

The Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre today released its minimum ATAR ranks for all courses across the state.

It comes as experts say ATAR cut-offs for university entrants should be more responsive to market demand, as predictions that fields like law, science and business with higher requirements may not necessarily result in employment.

The university sector, which has been badly damaged by COVID-19, will this year struggle without the $1.5 billion it took in from full-fare-paying overseas students in 2019.

But the domestic market will reap the benefits, with Griffith University Employment Relations and Human Resources Professor Ruth McPhail saying the drop in entry requirements could be correlated to an attempt to boost numbers given the COVID constraints.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE FULL LIST OF ATAR CUT-OFFS

Students can get into an Associate Degree in Law (Paralegal Studies) at Southern Cross University with an ATAR as low as 55, while the hardest degree is a Bachelor of Medical Imaging (Honours) at 99.95.

University of Queensland’s Bachelor of Arts/Laws (Honours), Law and Business Management (Honours), and Commerce and Law (Honours) all now require an ATAR of 97, as opposed to 98 last year.

ATAR cut offs for Queensland university courses have been revealed.

The Bachelor of Law (Honours) at UQ also comes in at 97.

USC’s Bachelor of Business (Management) and Bachelor of Business also dropped from 64 to 55.

CQ University’s Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) dropped from 68 to 62.

Last year, CQUniversity’s Bachelor of Nursing required 68 while this year a score of 66 is needed.

In teaching, Griffith University’s Bachelor of Education dropped to 70 from 72, while CQUniversity’s Education degree (Primary) dropped from 68 to 62.

The Centre for Independent Studies Education Policy research fellow Glenn Fahey however said ATAR cut-offs should be responsive to the job market.

“One problem we’ve got is ideally ATAR cut-offs for university entrants should be more responsive to market demand,” he said.

“So in the past, courses like law have attracted very high ability students based on ATAR because there was considered to be a higher payoff in the workforce but in recent years that connection to market outcomes has broken down.

TOP 20 COURSES REVEALED

“We no longer see necessarily there’s a strong connection between uni entrant scores and likelihoods of earning high incomes because we know that it’s well publicised graduates in law have not enjoyed the labour market success that might have been expected based on the relatively high entrant scores.”

Ms McPhail said the entry thresholds should be carefully considered.

“If your degree is accepting students who do not have the knowledge skills and ability to cope in that program, then there are negative impacts on all concerned.

“I think the threshold should be carefully considered and seen as setting a level of expectation of ability, so everyone wins if it is dropped without the necessary support being put in place then the opposite will occur.”

What do the numbers mean?

Beside each course name there is a number in brackets, e.g. (65). This number is the minimum QTAC selection rank for all applicants.

Sometimes, instead of, or as well as numbers, letters or symbols are used:

Key:

w – This course has been withdrawn.

* – Not all eligible applicants within this selection rank band received an offer for this course due to quota restrictions.

a – All eligible applicants at the time of the offer round were offered a place in this course.

m – Multiple selection criteria applied to this course and therefore a selection rank band is either not applicable or not the only criteria used.

n – This course has additional entry requirements that make it normally unavailable to school leavers.

& – Factors considered in the selection process include regionality, in addition to academic merit.

– – Multiple selection criteria, no minimum selection threshold available