OK, this has been done to death in chatbox, but...
This document really doesn't sit well with me and, for me, raises questions about the transparency and integrity of UQ administration.
(1) The obvious VC scandal. Now, I appreciate that this was just one student and that the incident has been identified (and is being acted on accordingly), but it raises serious questions about the administration at the university. One has to wonder how the VC got away with this - did he simply tell the med school to admit a certain student with a UMAT below the cutoff without getting questioned/challenged?
(2) The attitude of the medical school seems to be one of privately ignoring regulations to make arbitrary decisions about admissions. They arbitrarily decided to admit all applicants with 99.95 regardless of UMAT score after all applications were in and the offer list generated, without public disclosure. Similarly they arbitrarily decided at a later stage to only give second round offers to Queenslanders. Had they stuck to the public regulations they had declared in advance those extra offers would've gone to those applicants who had missed out who had the highest UMAT scores. You can't just arbitrarily decide, in private, to alter the system of choosing students after applications are in and the offer list generated, just because you don't like the offer list.
In my mind an institution that is prepared to break with regulations so easily is one whose integrity is questionable. If I were a UQ student I'd be questioning this attitude out of fear of the image it creates starting to undermine the value of a UQ degree. If regulations regarding admission to a degree can be so crassly ignored, how secure are the regulations regarding graduation?
I'm not questioning the value of the education received by any UQ student on the forum, particularly any MBBS students (whose degree has been deemed adequate by the AMC), nor am I trying to besmirch the name of UQ, nor am I claiming to represent any majority view. All I'm saying is that this process should be far more transparent and rigorous, and, from my perspective, threatens to undermine the integrity of UQ as an institution. All universities suffer issues like this - the important thing is how they respond to it. I apologise if this is offensive to anyone as this is certainly not my intention. I am merely expressing my opinion that the process outlined in the document linked to above does not sit well with me at all.