Australia's most powerful universities have fallen into line over university admissions standards, recommending wholesale changes in the wake of a Fairfax Media investigation that brought the sector's integrity into question.
In January, confidential data revealed that up to 60 per cent of students at some universities were being admitted below the advertised minimum requirements, forcing the federal government to direct the Higher Education Standards Panel to examine transparency in the sector.
On Tuesday, the Group of Eight universities endorsed the recommendation of the panel chair, the former secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet Peter Shergold, to publish the lowest, median and maximum Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank for every university degree.
For the first time, the Go8, which represents Australia's oldest universities including the University of Sydney and Melbourne University, has also suggested compelling universities to publish progression, pass and drop-out rates for courses on a nationally regulated website.
At present universities only advertise one ATAR cut-off and are not compelled to publish progression statistics, limiting their public accountability.
Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham voiced concerns over the lack of transparency in April as total HECS student debt looks set to blow out to $180 billion by 2026, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office. A record one million students will fill the nation's lecture halls this year.
Last Friday, a new report from the Department of Education revealed that three times as many students were being admitted with ATARs below 50 compared to four years ago. The median rank of the more than 55,000 ATAR eligible students in NSW last year hovered around 70.
"The Go8 transparency principles and those set out by the panel are well aligned," said Go8 chief executive Vicki Thompson.
The consensus paves the way for the federal government to enact sweeping changes. The Go8, the Australian Technology Network (ATN) and the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) have all broadly endorsed the panel's transparency recommendations.
In individual submissions, universities have also suggested more radical changes.
The Chair of the University of Sydney's academic board, Tony Masters, has called for the bonus points system to be scrapped.
"The current system provides less than full information about ATAR cut-offs and alternative entry schemes," he said.
Bonus points and direct entry schemes, where a student is recruited before their ATAR is released, have helped fuel the record growth in student numbers in recent years.
The bonus points system, described by Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham as "opaque as a double-frosted window", allows students who have suffered illness, misadventure, disadvantage or performed well in specific areas to enter university. There are currently no centralised guidelines as to how they should be awarded.
Professor Masters wrote there is general confusion from prospective students, parents and others regarding the role of "bonus points" in ATAR cut-offs.
"It is not clear that for example an ATAR cut-off of 85 may mean that students with ATARs of 80 or 81 were made offers," he said.
"We suggest to improve transparency that bonus points are abandoned by all institutions and the 'real' ATAR cut-off is published."
In its submission the ATN has suggested universities be compelled to publish the number of students admitted by each institution through alternative schemes on the Department of Education's website. "It must be noted that ATAR is only one indicator of likely success," wrote Executive Director Renee Hindmarsh.
The Go8 has proposed a new one-stop admissions shop for all the nation's students. The ATN and IRU are resistant to elements of such a move.
The federal government is due to release the panel's final recommendations later this year.
