It is time that Universities took responsibility for their own recruitment.
The single most important and helpful policy change that is needed in Australia, is for universities to be responsible for their own recruitment. They put time, money and energy into recruiting overseas students and they should be doing the same for domestic students.
Universities are the federal government’s responsibility and only they can fix this.
It is not acceptable that K-12 education is dictated by the need to provide a number at the end of Year 12 that says whether a student can get a place at a university.
Apart from any other issues, the system is manifestly unjust given that different states have different exit criteria yet the students are competing for the same university places.
The ATAR Dilemma: A System Failing Potential

If you are a West Wing fan, (and if you are not, why not?) you may remember the scene where Charlie, a young African American, is challenging a Republican Justice who argues that affirmative action in college (what we call university under-grad) recruitment doesn’t work. Grades, he argues, are part of high school, but college should be based on potential. The Justice then goes on to quote statistics that show that African American students seem to be more successful at the college level. They may be more committed and once given the opportunity they flourish.
In a far less high brow example, when Elle Woods (Legally Blonde) applies to Harvard Law, you see a group of faculty discussing her application. They agree to offer her a place, thus when she is asked how she managed to get in she replies, ‘it’s not like it’s hard.’
The thing is, you get absolutely no indication of potential from an ATAR. To the contrary, we often face a situation where the amount of hand-holding provided to senior students to get them through high school with a good ATAR, leaves them woefully unprepared for the individual and self-directed nature of university.
Handwriting, Exams, and Missed Opportunities
A friend shared an anecdote from a session on digital creativity he was running in a primary school. He was astounded when a Grade 4 teacher was concerned that if the students spent too much time on computers their handwriting would suffer. She said she had to make sure their handwriting was good for Year 12. He couldn’t understand it, but I did.
I bet I am not the only English or humanities teacher who has had to spend time with senior students to find ways of making their handwriting legible. After all, you can’t grade what you can’t read, and the people marking the Year 12 exams don’t know the students they are marking. They haven’t spent a couple of years getting to know and interpret the chicken scratch.
I imagine this could be an issue with NAPLAN as well.

It is bizarre in this digital age that a student’s handwriting is a critical factor in assessing their abilities. And don’t get me started on how that limits the potential of neuro-spicy students.
Now, I don’t want you to think that my research practices are limited to popular fiction and movies. I also use the internet. Interestingly, it took only a rudimentary search for me to discover that we appear to be alone in fashioning a system where a student’s entrance into university is dependent totally on their results in Year 12.
Global Perspectives: How Other Countries Handle University Admissions
While the basic entry requirements are similar in most universities in Europe, each university will have their own admission requirements.
Basic requirements seem to be:
- School leaving certificate at the secondary or high school level
- Letter(s) of recommendation from figures of authority that recommend you for higher studies
- Motivation letter. (more intense than a personal statement.) This is really important as it is what the admissions officers will use to judge whether to admit you or not. Especially if there are no interviews.
Some universities will also require applicants to write an entrance exam for admission to their courses. That is a separate exam for each institution you are applying to. It is also important to keep up with the application deadlines as they will vary.
Each university or UAS has its own criteria and list of documents, Universities will provide a comprehensive list of the required documents once a student begins their online application. Among the basic paperwork that is commonly required by all universities are:
- Copies of completed or soon-to-be completed qualifications documents
- Official translations for all documents in Finnish, Swedish or English
- Original diplomas and original official translations
It is probable also that official application deadlines will vary from institution to institution
Applications are usually made online at Studyinfo.fi, the official website for Finnish applications. There are two types of applications – which one you use, depends on the degree program you wish to apply to:
- Joint Application
- Separate Application
In a joint application, you can apply to six study programs with one application. If you apply through a separate application, you apply directly to an institution’s study program.
Separate application forms are filled separately for each study program or institution and there’s no limit to how many study programs you can apply for.
In the UK there is a centralised platform that you need to apply through; UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). You can apply for up to 5 courses at once for a small administration fee and they handle all the rest.
But again, the requirements will vary. Among the basics are a personal statement which gives a student the opportunity to stand out from the crowd. The student will explain why they are interested in each of the courses and what skills and abilities they bring that make them a good candidate. The admissions officer will use these in deciding whether a place will be offered.
Course descriptions will often include the skills, interests or experience that it is good to have and students will want to address these in their personal statement because applications can be competitive.
Like in Europe and other places, students will need to include a written reference from someone who can confirm their ability to do the course, such as a tutor or one of their school teachers.
There are 4 main application deadlines in the UK.
- October – for courses at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or for most courses in medicine, veterinary medicine/science and dentistry
- 31 January – ‘on time’ deadline for most undergraduate courses
- March – for some art and design courses
- 30 June – late deadline for most undergraduate courses. Applications received after this deadline will automatically go into “clearing”, so you will not be guaranteed your first choice.
Some universities and courses will require an admissions test and it is necessary to check that early because some tests are held the year before the course start date.
Interviews are becoming more common and invitations are published through the UCAS hub.
Scottish Considerations
Courses at Scottish universities and colleges have two sets of entry requirements: standard and minimum.
Both reflect the grades you normally need to achieve by the time you start at the university or college. However, the minimum entry requirements only apply if you are considered to be a ‘widening access’ student.
A widening access student seems to be what we would term a student entitled to special consideration.
Universities and colleges aim to identify each applicant’s full talent and potential, and look beyond just grades.
All universities and colleges have their own policies around widening access. And each university will set these entry requirements for each of its courses; the general idea being that they are set at a level where the university can feel confident a student will be able to cope with the demands of the course.
Admissions tests
For more selective universities and competitive courses, students might be asked to sit a special examination to help admissions staff find the strongest candidates. This will likely apply to Oxbridge or if a student wants to study a subject like law or medicine. The score obtained will be used when considering applications.
Interviews
A few universities – including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London – interview most or all of their applicants. Some subjects are more likely to interview applicants but it varies between universities.
Where a course receives a high number of eligible applicants, admissions tutors may ask you for an interview either online or in person. This is so they can meet you and fill in the picture they’ve painted of you from your personal statement, to help them make their decision.
For courses such as medicine, and invariably for Oxford and Cambridge a student must succeed at the interview prior to being offered a place.
Every college in the US has its own requirements and deadlines and it is essential that students learn these. Actually there was mention in the research about spreadsheets to keep up with all the requirements.
Students sit the SATs or LSATs which I gather are similar to the GATs in Melbourne or the old QCS tests in Queensland.
In general, colleges will also require letters of recommendation, transcripts and written essays. There is a lot of discussion around the essay section. While they may only need to be between 200-400 words they need to be very specific and speak to the prompts provided by the college.
Some of the prompts will ask specifically about the course and college you are applying to while others may be more general. It is interesting that on the advice page I was reading the following was underlined:
‘Keep in mind that if you can simply change the school name in a college-specific essay and it still works if you apply it to another school’s prompt, then your response isn’t specific enough.’
The Potential Within: Moving Beyond Standardised Tests
I was very interested to read that in recent years there has been a move away from standardised tests. As every teacher knows, standardised tests do not accurately capture a student’s academic potential. Colleges have begun to place more emphasis on the student’s full high-school transcript over a number of years. It is argued that ‘the full transcript provides a more comprehensive view of the student’s abilities, achievements and consistency in academic performance.’
The addition of factors like extracurricular activities, personal essays, recommendation letters and proven leadership skills, acknowledge that ‘a student’s potential extends beyond a single standardised test score.’
And this brings us back to potential, something our K-12 students have in abundance before we grind it down in service to the ATAR.
Reclaiming Autonomy: A Call for Change
Many years ago, I was talking to a US teacher friend, and was explaining the concepts of ‘moderation and verification.’ She was appalled that anyone would question a teacher’s marking or assignments. While I may not have agreed completely with what she was saying, I was envious of the autonomy she had in her classroom.
An autonomy that is not possible when K-12 teachers are shackled to the dictates of university entrance.
The education space in Australia is brimming with extraordinary educators and programs. Collaborations across States and international boundaries, units of work that prepare our students for a future that is largely unknown due to the speed of digital developments, and wonderful programs that treat our students holistically.

Our K-12 teachers need to be given the space and support to provide our students with the very best education. They also need to be given the respect and autonomy their training and experience deserve.
Arts Education as a Model for Holistic Admissions
Not surprisingly, many of our Arts courses have been doing this right for decades. Design students have prepared and spoken to portfolios of work and music students have displayed mastery of their primary instrument.
But as for the rest…
Leadership for a Better Future
Last week I spoke about how many politicians and bureaucrats misunderstand the data they gather on K-12 education. I pointed out the need for more involvement by teachers and students in K-12 education policy. I still believe that the ideas mentioned need to happen, but nothing will free the sector more than removing the responsibility for university entrance from K-12.
To our Ministers of Education, both state and federal – if you really want to support and co-author a better system of education, it is time to lead. Give K-12 back to the states and manage university entrance at the federal level.