University Proposes Introducing Aptitude Tests

The Age, 18 October 2009

The University of Melbourne’s Centre for the Study of Higher Education has proposed that universities introduce aptitude tests as an alternative selection criterion to performance in a senior secondary certificate.

As part of a Victorian Government round table, industry and tertiary leaders met to discuss alternate pathways to tertiary study.

Professor Richard James argued that aptitude tests would provide students who had the intellectual capacity to undertake tertiary study, but who did not have the appropriate knowledge, greater access to universities.

He argued that, while a high ENTER score was a good indicator of success at university, the reverse did not necessarily hold true for low ENTER scores. He stated that ‘we don't want to give up on school achievement as selection criteria, but there's very strong evidence to show that somebody with a particular aptitude for a subject, and an ENTER below 60, could in fact do very well’.

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) supported Professor James’ argument, claiming that aptitude tests were one of the best ways to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds attending university.

ACER Research Fellow, Hamish Coates, indicated that ‘...say you're at a school that doesn't have a chemistry lab – we can still show, independent of context, your ability to study that subject’.

The Victorian Minister for Education, Ms Bronwyn Pike, and the Minister for Skills, Ms Jacinta Allan, indicated that any proposals to improve university participation for disadvantaged students would be considered in a forthcoming report.

 

 

Back to News Page