Guaranteed Offer Scheme

Saturday, 24 August 2013

High-achieving students receive University guarantee

Guaranteed Offer Scheme

The Hunter's brightest students will be spared the agonising wait for university acceptance with the launch of an innovative High Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) Guaranteed Offer Scheme from the University of Newcastle.

The new scheme will be launched today at the University's Open Day at its Newcastle campus.

Under the new scheme, many applicants with ATAR scores over 90 will be guaranteed places at the region's world-class university.

Newcastle ranks in the top three percent of universities in the world and is facing increasing pressure on some of its highest-demand degree courses, particularly as toughening economic conditions lead more high school leavers to improve their job chances with tertiary qualifications.

University of Newcastle Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Academic, Professor Andrew Parfitt, said high school students were displaying higher levels of anxiety over access to university education.

"Students today are putting a lot of pressure on themselves to get into specific courses, mostly without an alternative plan if they are not accepted into the course they want. Gaining a place at a "Top 3%" university such as ours has become highly competitive," Professor Parfitt said.

"As this year's HSC students prepare for the most important exams of their lives so far, we want to provide them with an incentive to perform well, with the confidence that a high ATAR score will guarantee them a place in most of our internationally-recognised degrees."

The majority of undergraduate courses offered at the University of Newcastle are eligible for the High ATAR Guaranteed Offer Scheme, including Radiation Sciences and Biomedical Science, a popular stepping stone to Medicine and Dentistry.

The University, which boasts one of the top Engineering Schools in the country, is including its range of single degree engineering courses within the Scheme.A small number of highly selective degrees (such as Law, Medicine and Physiotherapy) are not included and some degrees have additional entry requirements. More information is available at www.newcastle.edu.au/highatar.

Contact

  • Carmen Swadling, Media and Public Relations
  • Phone: +61 2 4985 4276 or 0428 038 477

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