Regulation 11.1.R3 - Principles of Selection for Entry to Courses

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The Principles of Selection must be read in conjunction with the Academic Board Resolutions on Selection. These detail selection procedures and criteria which are specific to particular courses, contain the English requirements referred to in clause 5(2), contain selection procedures and criteria for the Melbourne University Program for High Achieving Students and the Targeted Access Program, and refer to alternative entry pathways for international students.

These Principles of Selection were prepared by the Academic Board and are approved by the Council as the following regulation pursuant to Statute 11.1.3.

PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION FOR ENTRY TO COURSES

1. Introduction and Applicability
   

   1. The University is committed to maintaining high international academic standards in its courses.

   2. The University will select from those students likely to succeed in its courses.
      
2. Dictionary

Expressions used in these Principles of Selection that are defined in the Dictionary at the end of these Principles have the meanings given to them in the Dictionary.

3. Selection Committee
   
   1. Student selection is the responsibility of the Academic Board.
   2. Subject to paragraph (3) hereof, the Academic Board will appoint a selection committee for each undergraduate course comprising the dean of the appropriate faculty (or a person nominated by the dean ), and other members nominated by the dean.
   3. Where the Academic Board has assigned a course for administrative purposes to a faculty, the Academic Board will appoint a selection committee comprising the dean of the faculty (or a person nominated by the dean) and not less than two other members of academic staff with expertise with the particular courses nominated by the dean.
   4. There will be a selection committee for each postgraduate course comprising the dean of the faculty (or a person nominated by the dean), and other members nominated by the faculty¹.
   5. Each selection committee will report to the Academic Board at the conclusion of each selection round in a form approved by the Academic Board.
      
4. Applications
   
   1. Applications for selection must be lodged by the date or dates prescribed by the appropriate faculty. No application lodged after the prescribed closing date(s) will be considered unless the selection committee concerned is satisfied that special circumstances exist to justify acceptance of the late application.

5. Eligibility

1. The Academic Board may require applicants to have obtained a minimum grade average or study score in certain studies at the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), or its equivalent, or in studies completed at university level, as a prerequisite for selection into a course. A selection committee must give due credit to an applicant who has successfully completed at or above the required grade a subject which is judged by the selection committee to be at least equivalent in content, standard and assessment to the prerequisite study prescribed, including a subject completed in a course at a tertiary institution.
2. All applicants must have obtained the minimum level of English language competence specified by the Academic Board as a prerequisite for admission to the course for which they have applied and published with this regulation.
3. A selection committee may require an applicant to attend for interview and a written test to determine whether the applicant has the requisite ability in English expression and comprehension to complete the course successfully.
4. Pursuant to Statute 11.1 the Academic Board may declare eligible for admission people who lack qualifications ordinarily required for admission. An applicant who is disadvantaged may apply to the Academic Registrar for admission under that section.
5. Council and the Academic Board are committed to encouraging increased participation of indigenous Australian students in the courses of the University of Melbourne. An indigenous Australian who is not otherwise selected must be admitted if the selection committee decides that the applicant is likely to succeed in the proposed course of study.
6. Council may establish extended courses leading to degrees or diplomas for students who would not be eligible for admission under Statute 11.1.4. For each such course, an Academic Board Resolution on Selection must establish the requirements for entry to the course and the requirements of the course, and the Academic Board Resolution must be published with this regulation. For each such course, the selection committee must report annually to the Academic Board on the performance of the entrants selected into the course.

6. Selection Procedures

There will be separate selection procedures for Australian Government Subsidised and Fee-Paying Students.

7. Selection of Australian Government Subsidised Students
   
   1. For each course or category of applicants for a course, the Council may determine a quota of places.
   2. (a) If a quota of places is determined, the selection committee, using a procedure and criteria approved by the Academic Board and published with this regulation, will identify and rank applicants considered most likely to pursue the course successfully. The selection committee will offer places to applicants in ranked order until the places available in the quota have been filled.
      
      (b) If a quota of places is not determined, the selection committee, using a procedure and criteria approved by the Academic Board and published with this regulation, will identify those applicants who will be offered places taking account of the likelihood of success of the applicants.
      
      (c) If the Council has set a required level of performance in the VCE or equivalent, that level must be published with this regulation, and with the exception of Access Melbourne applicants, no offer is to be made to an applicant whose level of performance is below that prescribed level.
      
      (d) In considering applicants, a selection committee may allocate applicants to one of three groups. The first will contain those judged clearly to be selected. The second will contain those clearly to be rejected. The third will contain those remaining applicants who will be ranked on the criteria approved for the course concerned.
      
      (e) For a particular course, the Academic Board may approve a level of academic performance which will guarantee that an applicant will be judged clearly to be selected if that level is published with this regulation.
   3. In deciding between applicants at or near the borderline for selection into an undergraduate course, the relative academic merit of the applicants may be adjusted after considering the results obtained in particular studies or in components of particular studies in the VCE and, if applicable, their level of performance in tertiary level subjects taken concurrently with Year 12 studies.
   4. The Academic Board has established Access Melbourne and Graduate Access Melbourne to broaden the social base of the student population while maintaining high academic standards. For each course, categories of applicants are approved by the Academic Board and published with this regulation. Selection committees may select from applicants in the approved categories if they have potential for success but cannot be selected otherwise under these Principles.
   5. Council may establish quotas of places for the entry of Technical and Further Education students. Such quotas will be less than fifty percent of the available Australian Government Subsidised places for students with qualifications which are judged by the selection committee to be academically equivalent. To be eligible for selection in such a quota, an applicant must have completed one of the courses stipulated for that quota by resolution of the Academic Board which is published with this regulation, achieving a standard of performance set by the Academic Board and published with this regulation.
   6. Council may establish targets for the entry of particular categories of Technical and Further Education applicants to specified courses. To be eligible for selection to such a course, an applicant in one of those categories must have completed one of the courses stipulated for that category of applicants by resolution of the Academic Board which is published with this regulation, achieving a standard of performance set by the Academic Board and published with this regulation. The applicants for places in the category will not be ranked with other applicants for places in any quota for the course. The selection committee will report to the Academic Board on the qualifications of those selected in those categories, and will later report on the performance of those selected in those categories compared to those otherwise selected for the course.
   7. Council may establish quotas of places for Access Melbourne. Such quotas will be separate to the Australian Government subsidised places.
      
      1. To be eligible for selection in such a quota applicants must have applied for Access Melbourne and Graduate Access Melbourne and must have, in the view of the Selection Committee, met one or more of the eligibility criteria set by the Academic Board and published with this regulation.
8. Deferment of Places by Australian Government Subsidised Students
   
   1. Students who are offered a place in a quota may apply for deferment of that place for a semester or a year. The appropriate faculty may fix the number of places to be reserved or determine that no deferments may be granted in any particular selection period.
   2. Where an applicant has been granted a deferred place under paragraph 8 (1), the applicant must notify the faculty concerned by the date prescribed by the selection committee-
      
      1. whether or not the reserved place will be taken;
         or
      2. whether a further deferment is sought.
   3. A selection committee may, after considering such evidence and conducting such interviews as it thinks fit, grant a deferred place for a further period.
      
9. Selection of Fee-Paying Students
   
   1. For each undergraduate course or category of applicants for an undergraduate course, the Council may determine a required level of performance in the VCE or its equivalent. A selection committee may determine that an applicant has satisfied the required level of performance on the basis of completed studies at a tertiary institution which is recognised by the Academic Board.
      

1. The selection committee, using a procedure and criteria approved by the Academic Board and published with this regulation, will identify those applicants who will be offered places taking account of the likelihood of success of applicants.
2. If the Council has set a required level of performance in the VCE or equivalent, that level must be published with this regulation, and no offer is to be made to an applicant whose level of performance is below that prescribed by the Council.
3. In considering applicants, a selection committee may allocate applicants to one of three groups. The first will contain those judged clearly to be selected. The second will contain those clearly to be rejected. The third will contain those remaining applicants who will be ranked on the criteria approved for the course concerned.
4. For a particular course or category of applicants for a particular course, the Academic Board may approve a level of academic performance which will guarantee that an applicant will be judged clearly to be selected. Those standards are to be published with this regulation.
   

10. Deferment of Places by Fee-Paying Students

The appropriate faculty may approve the deferment of a place for a time determined by that faculty.

11. Principles Common to the Selection of Australian Government Subsidised and Fee-Paying Students
    
    1. The Council may set a required level of performance in the VCE or equivalent which, subject to satisfying other course requirements as set out elsewhere in these regulations, will guarantee selection.

1. If set this level of performance must be published with this regulation.
2. In considering eligible Australian applicants, the Selection Committee will rank them on the basis of academic merit and the highest ranked applicants will be offered an Australian government subsidised place until the quota of such places determined by Council is filled. The Selection Committee will then make offers to all fee-paying applicants who have achieved the required level of performance in the VCE or equivalent.

2. In considering the likelihood of success of applicants, a selection committee will use the Academic Record of the applicant and/or such other criteria as may be approved by the Academic Board and published with this regulation.
3. In considering results in VCE studies or their equivalent, the Procedures Adopted by the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre ("VTAC") will be used where applicable. Where an applicant has attended for more years than are usual in the senior years of secondary school before or since qualifying for the VCE or its equivalent, the Academic Board may determine that a selection committee when ranking the applicant may take into consideration any advantage which the applicant may have received².
4. If applicants provide information on the matters specified in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) (below), the selection committee must take that information into account in assessing the application if, in the opinion of the committee, the applicant is likely to succeed in the course-
   
   1. any illness, war or military service, or serious hardship as a result of which the studies or examination performance of an applicant have, in the opinion of the committee, been adversely affected; and
   2. physical handicaps or disabilities as a result of which the studies or examination performance of an applicant have, in the opinion of the committee, been adversely affected; and
   3. reports from school principals or persons with professional qualifications, where those reports may assist the selection committee in evaluating the effect of factors referred to in paragraphs (a) or (b).
5. In ranking applicants a selection committee may, at its discretion, also take into account-
   
   1. the period of time which has elapsed since completion of any studies relied upon as qualifying the applicant for admission; and
   2. any work or research experience which, in the opinion of the selection committee, may be relevant to the proposed course of study; and
   3. the applicant’s reasons for wishing to pursue the course, except for school-leaver applicants and for later-year entry to undergraduate courses.
6. A selection committee may conduct interviews to obtain information about the matters referred to in sections 11(3) and 11(4) above or for any purpose that has been approved by the Academic Board and published with this regulation.
7. A selection committee may take into account any relevant written information submitted by an applicant.
8. An applicant who is not selected into the course for which a first preference has been expressed must be considered for the courses of second and, if necessary, subsequent preference and must be ranked for selection in preference to any other applicant of inferior academic merit. No applicant will be re-ranked on the basis of their level of preference for a particular course.

These Principles of Selection are a regulation by virtue of sub-section 7 (2) of the University Acts (Amendment) Act 1994.

Academic Board Resolutions on Selection

1Pursuant to Statute 4.1.2(d) the Academic Board exercises the powers and performs the duties of a faculty for all courses that do not pertain to a faculty or where a course has not been assigned for administrative purposes to a faculty. The Master of Business Administration, Master of Management (Technology) and Postgraduate Diploma in Management courses are under the direct control of the Academic Board, and in respect of these courses, the Academic Board is deemed to be a faculty within the meaning of the Principles of Selection.

2 Applicants are directed to VTAC at 40 Park Street, South Melbourne, for a copy of these procedures

Australian Government Subsidised Students

Australian Government Subsidised Students includes students whose enrolment in a course is subject to the provisions of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme established by the Australian Government under the Higher Education Support Act (2003).

Fee-Paying Students

Fee-Paying Students includes all students whose enrolment in a course is conditional upon them paying tuition fees in accordance with guidelines issued by the Minister for Education, Science and Training.

Academic Record

The Academic Record of the applicant means the whole academic record of the applicant. For a school-leaver applicant the whole academic record includes results obtained in studies attempted at VCE (Units 3 and 4) or equivalent and in any university-level studies attempted concurrently. For other applicants, the whole academic record includes results obtained in studies attempted at VCE (Units 3 and 4) or equivalent and in all university-level or technical and further education subjects attempted.

Procedures Adopted by the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC)

These are the procedures published by VTAC in Victorian Tertiary Entrance Requirements for the year of selection, together with any changes for that year published by VTAC.

Academic Board Resolutions on Selection