spin spin sugar
it's gotta be big
for those who haven't seen the news:
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HSC students warned uni cut-off scores may rise
By Matthew Thompson, Higher Education Reporter
September 3, 2003
University entrance scores are emulating Sydney's tearaway real estate market, with cut-off marks likely to jump for next year's intake.
Year 12 students should brace themselves for a steep rise in the Universities Admission Index (UAI), said Andrew Stanton, managing director of the Universities Admission Centre.
In a recent newsletter to HSC students, he warned that "competition for places will be fierce", and advised them to apply for lower ranked courses as a "safety net".
Should the cut-off marks rise significantly, many subjects will be climbing from a high base. From 2001 to 2002, the cut-off mark for a Bachelor of Arts jumped by up to 10 points at Macquarie University, the University of NSW, and the University of Sydney - where students last year needed a UAI of 80 out of 100, up from 70 in 2001.
Compounding the pressure, the University of Sydney, which is carrying 13 per cent more students than it receives full funding for, has decided to cut undergraduate enrolments next year by 10 per cent.
The universities are reducing "marginal" enrolments - those over and above the number of places fully funded by the Commonwealth. For each enrolment above its quota, a university gets about a quarter of full funding.
Labor's education spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, said yesterday that "cut-off scores will skyrocket and thousands of school leavers will be turned away from courses that they are qualified to get into". This will happen, a statement from Ms Macklin said, because the Government is "forcing NSW universities to scale back nearly 7000 HECS [Higher Education Contribution Scheme] places in the next three years".
A spokesman for the federal Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, disagreed. "They're not even expected to start phasing out [over-enrolments] until 2005," the spokesman said. "The Commonwealth will be funding these places until 2008, when we will have created an additional 31,000 fully funded places [nationally]."
If the universities start phasing out over-enrolments next year, it may be because they are trying to reduce overcrowding, Dr Nelson's spokesman said, "which is addressed by the places created under the Government's [proposed] package."
However, not all HSC students are worried about the threat of higher cut-off scores, and reduced enrolments.
Kavita Bedford, 18, a Year 12 student at Fort Street High, recently completed works in drama, visual arts, and English, all counting towards her HSC.
"You get so bogged down in the work that you don't worry about the rest of it," she said. "I've looked at the uni scores, and some tend to go down a bit, but I don't really stress about it."
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so what does everyone else think?
this news is a real blow to me. while i know i can get a relatively high uai, (assuming i will work in the lead up to the hsc) it's going to be very hard for me to get anything higher than 97. and if all the cut-off's i want RISE... shit. they're all going to be well over 97. this is insane!! Arts, at 84, is supposed to be my FALL BACK. if that goes up another 10 points, i'm doomed.
==========================================
HSC students warned uni cut-off scores may rise
By Matthew Thompson, Higher Education Reporter
September 3, 2003
University entrance scores are emulating Sydney's tearaway real estate market, with cut-off marks likely to jump for next year's intake.
Year 12 students should brace themselves for a steep rise in the Universities Admission Index (UAI), said Andrew Stanton, managing director of the Universities Admission Centre.
In a recent newsletter to HSC students, he warned that "competition for places will be fierce", and advised them to apply for lower ranked courses as a "safety net".
Should the cut-off marks rise significantly, many subjects will be climbing from a high base. From 2001 to 2002, the cut-off mark for a Bachelor of Arts jumped by up to 10 points at Macquarie University, the University of NSW, and the University of Sydney - where students last year needed a UAI of 80 out of 100, up from 70 in 2001.
Compounding the pressure, the University of Sydney, which is carrying 13 per cent more students than it receives full funding for, has decided to cut undergraduate enrolments next year by 10 per cent.
The universities are reducing "marginal" enrolments - those over and above the number of places fully funded by the Commonwealth. For each enrolment above its quota, a university gets about a quarter of full funding.
Labor's education spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, said yesterday that "cut-off scores will skyrocket and thousands of school leavers will be turned away from courses that they are qualified to get into". This will happen, a statement from Ms Macklin said, because the Government is "forcing NSW universities to scale back nearly 7000 HECS [Higher Education Contribution Scheme] places in the next three years".
A spokesman for the federal Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, disagreed. "They're not even expected to start phasing out [over-enrolments] until 2005," the spokesman said. "The Commonwealth will be funding these places until 2008, when we will have created an additional 31,000 fully funded places [nationally]."
If the universities start phasing out over-enrolments next year, it may be because they are trying to reduce overcrowding, Dr Nelson's spokesman said, "which is addressed by the places created under the Government's [proposed] package."
However, not all HSC students are worried about the threat of higher cut-off scores, and reduced enrolments.
Kavita Bedford, 18, a Year 12 student at Fort Street High, recently completed works in drama, visual arts, and English, all counting towards her HSC.
"You get so bogged down in the work that you don't worry about the rest of it," she said. "I've looked at the uni scores, and some tend to go down a bit, but I don't really stress about it."
=============================================
so what does everyone else think?
this news is a real blow to me. while i know i can get a relatively high uai, (assuming i will work in the lead up to the hsc) it's going to be very hard for me to get anything higher than 97. and if all the cut-off's i want RISE... shit. they're all going to be well over 97. this is insane!! Arts, at 84, is supposed to be my FALL BACK. if that goes up another 10 points, i'm doomed.
