Sweeping changes to QTAC following offer round debacle

Crisis management training will be brought into the state’s tertiary admissions centre as it aims to avoid a repeat of last year’s offer round chaos which left thousands of students in limbo.

A revamped website and crisis management training will be brought into the state’s tertiary admissions centre to avoid a repeat of last year’s offer round chaos which left thousands of students unsure whether they had gotten into university.

The actions come off the back of a review following the two disasters with QTAC’s offer rounds, the first in December which was delayed for hours and the second in January leaving prospective university students in limbo for four days.

They are part of 16 recommendations listed in an independent review which looked into a series of failures by QTAC, including a failure of its IT system known as “O2” which had been launched in August, 2023 in replacement of the former technology that was used.

The review found O2 was not ready when it was released with “inadequate testing and training undertaken with institutions” leading to zero access for soon-to-be graduates and there was ongoing confusion around the system calling for more training and development on the IT ahead of this year’s offer rounds.

Conducted by Higher Education Services Chair Dr Stephen Weller, the review found 16 key recommendations with a focus to improve the website experience for applicants and for an upgraded contact centre for improved customer inquiry management.

Other key recommendations were clarification on who has authority to make offers and defer offer rounds, to prepare a crisis management policy to plan for future incidents by the end of this month as well as the QTAC Chair commissioning two simulated crisis management exercises each year.

QTAC Board acting chair Professor Kris Ryan fully endorsed the recommendations after CEO of 13 years Dr John Griffiths resigned in March following the major offer round debacle.

Former QTAC Chair John Griffiths resigned earlier this year. Picture: Richard Walker

Professor Ryan said with the Queensland tertiary admissions process for 2024-25 now under way, QTAC’s executive and board were confident in the reliability and performance of QTAC’s systems and processes.

“This follows months of system enhancement, rigorous testing, and cultural renewal to ensure QTAC meets the understandably high expectations of applicants, institutions and the community,” Professor Ryan said.

Professor Ryan said most of the recommendations aligned to work already being undertaken at QTAC, while others were aligned with future work commissioned by the board and executive.

“The QTAC board and executive are collectively committed to implementing each of the 16 recommendations from the independent review, to further enhance QTAC’s operations and restore stakeholder confidence.”

“Recent improvements include an enhanced website experience for applicants, and an upgraded contact centre for improved customer inquiry management,” he said.

“QTAC is focused on its critical mission of connecting Queenslanders with tertiary education opportunities, and the organisation is excited by this opportunity for renewal and improvement.”

An Education Department spokesman said it supported the recommendation that the Minister and the department are recognised as key stakeholders and should be engaged regularly through the admission and offer cycle.

“The department was consulted during the review process and consultation was also undertaken with select schools, and other affected stakeholders.”

Offer rounds this year are scheduled for December 23 and January 16 for the class of 2024.