Schools back new university selection rules

Secondary schools in Dunedin say the University of Otago's new criteria for selecting pupils to study at the institution next year may be one of the best things to have happened to education for many years.

The university this week released, under embargo, its selection criteria to Otago secondary schools.

The criteria were created in response to the Government placing caps on funding supplied to universities to subsidise domestic students.

As a result, many universities have decided to restrict entry to courses in 2011.

There are no restrictions on enrolments by international students who pay full fees.

There are now two pathways for admission to programmes: preferential (guaranteed) entry and competitive entry.

It is expected the majority of students admitted to Otago in 2011 will be able to achieve entry via the preferential pathway.

University of Otago programmes subject to the new system are bachelor degrees in arts, applied science, biomedical sciences, commerce, consumer and applied sciences, music, science, theology and law.

Also included are first-year health sciences, other first-year or intermediate courses and the certificate of proficiency for undergraduate papers.

New and recommencing students who do not gain preferential entry, and are applying for a capped programme in 2011, will be placed on the competitive entry pathway.

These people will be offered places in order of priority, subject to the availability of places in their nominated programmes.

Several Otago secondary school guidance counsellors and principals, who all declined to be named, welcomed the new criteria because they meant the bar had been raised and pupils would have to put in more effort to gain preferential entry.

One said under the old system some pupils scraped through on 42 credits and, although they qualified, they were not suitable for university study.

Another said some educators believed the bar should be made even higher.

"Raising the bar is a good thing, because we don't want people going to university and wasting taxpayers' money."

However, several educators also raised concerns about using NCEA level 2 results as a criteria for preferential entry.

They said there was nothing in th university's document which prevented those gaining entry in level 2 from "mucking about" in level 3.

"I hope it's just an oversight by the university."

The new policy would give high-calibre students the earliest possible assurance about their place at Otago, academic and international deputy vice-chancellor Prof Vernon Squire said.

"This approach reflects the fact that some 80% of commencing undergraduate students at Otago come from outside Dunedin, with almost 40% from the North Island. Early assurance [of a place] is important for such students as they make their plans to relocate from home to Dunedin."

The university would "always honour its committment" of places for those who met the academic standards, he said.

Guides to enrolment would be available within the next week, and university liaison staff  were available to discuss the policy with students and parents, he said.

The closing date for 2011 semester-one enrolments is December 10.

Asked recently if it would be possible for a New Zealand-born citizen to bypass the enrolment restrictions by offering to pay full fees rather than being subsidised by the Government, a university spokesman said it would not, as it would be a breach of the Education Act.