Discussion: Medicine Entry Bonus Points and Subquotas

[Sew’n’sew]

That sounds like the decision of a single school rather than the whole country, though.... so it probably won’t do much at all to close the loophole.

I don’t mean that a particular school has refused to take repeating students. I understood that to mean that while you can resit the UCAT, you can’t repeat subjects at a disadvantaged school to gain the 5 points &/or boost your ATAR. I suspect many of the ex-private school gap year kids going to Flinders in recent years have gotten in this way which is unfair in my book. Have not seen this in writing anywhere though.

 

[Crow]

I don’t mean that a particular school has refused to take repeating students. I understood that to mean that while you can resit the UCAT, you can’t repeat subjects at a disadvantaged school to gain the 5 points &/or boost your ATAR. I suspect many of the ex-private school gap year kids going to Flinders in recent years have gotten in this way which is unfair in my book. Have not seen this in writing anywhere though.

'No year 13': Australian year 12 students to graduate in 2020 despite coronavirus disruption | Australian education | The Guardian Are you sure you’re not referring to this? Because this isn’t an Australia-wide policy to stop students repeating Y12 to boost their ATARs, it’s just a Covid measure to ensure students don’t have to repeat the entire year if their studies were interrupted.

 

[Sew’n’sew]

I don’t think so, however I don’t have anymore info. If I have something more concrete, I’ll report back.

 

[JKHO]

Yes it probably costs that much for the university, however all domestic places at UNSW are supported by the commonwealth government (hence Commonwealth Supported Place) of which they pay the large majority of your tuition no questions asked. The rest you cover with HECS.

2021 Allocation of units of study to funding clusters - Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government

2021 Commonwealth contribution amounts and maximum student contribution amounts by discipline.

www.dese.gov.au

You can see here that the maximum student contribution amount (SCA) a university can charge $11,300, and the government covers the rest with $27, 000 (btw this $11,300 is also listed on the UNSW Future Students Page)

The UNSW website that says 1000 /unit is for *fee* paying students, or students without a CSP, aka International students.

The cost of a medical place is covered by the student contribution and the federal government grant.
Why Monash, UTAS give preference to local state applicants?

 

[A1]

The cost of a medical place is covered by the student contribution and the federal government grant.
Why Monash, UTAS give preference to local state applicants?

It was why UAdel originally said it was unconstitutional to give preference to instate applicants.
But even UAdel has now gone against that assertion, presumably because the state gov guarantees to provide internships for all CSP graduates they can say they prefer to employ more locals.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

The cost of a medical place is covered by the student contribution and the federal government grant.
Why Monash, UTAS give preference to local state applicants?

I’m not sure for Monash (perhaps because it’s the only direct entry Med option in the state? But I honestly have no idea..).

For UTAS it’s because Tasmania has significant difficulty attracting and maintaining an adequate medical (and allied health) workforce and the theory is, training local applicants who are more likely to stay in the state after graduation is necessary for maintaining services. It’s also for this reason that UTAS will be offering Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Exercise Physiology, etc, for the first time from next year.

Given the state government funds healthcare (and therefore intern salaries), it appears they get a say in how many place offers are available (as this informs how many intern salaries they’re going to have to fund), and how those places are divvied up (preference for investing in those more likely to remain in the state). UTAS and the Tas state government have long standing agreements in place re. this.

ETA: These are not the only schools with preference systems in place. JPM have a seperate pathway for GWS students, and UAdel for SA locals (presumably for the same or similar reasons to UTAS), and (almost) all schools have rural and indigenous pathways to build representation and servicing in those communities by similar mechanisms.

 

[dotwingz]

Not all state based barries are bad. Tasmania has a long documented history of being behind in all things education and health. It makes sense to give local students in these areas who are not only disadvantaged but also more likely to help mend that disadvantage a step up. Kinda like JPM's focus on GWS and more broadly every uni's allocation of rural students.

Personally I think Monash's barriers are unjustifiable, even if it is the only direct entry in the state.