Federation University has rejected the acting premier’s call for Victorian universities to follow the NSW model of only accepting the top 30 per cent of students into teaching courses.
The Mount Helen university has stopped publishing a clearly-in ATAR requirement for its teaching courses and has previously accepted students with sub-40 scores.
A spokesman for James Merlino said they were looking at the restriction.
Acting Vice-Chancellor of FedUni John Blair said ATARs were only one way to gauge a student’s suitability.
“A large number of university places offered in Australia will be to people without an ATAR. Direct entry to university is growing exponentially at some universities, with the ATAR bypassed altogether,” he said.
“Direct entry, mature-age and international students, and students who come through VET pathways make up a large proportion of the Australian university intake. Most of these students are not asked for an ATAR.”
