❓ The Minister for Education acknowledges that WA university entrance is more competitive than other states, resulting in many qualified WA students missing out. He attributes this to federal policy and advocates for increased Commonwealth assistance to address the inequity.
AnsweredQoN 40Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Is it true that it is still harder to get a place in a Western Australian university than at a university anywhere else in Australia? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Southern River for his assistance on this issue of university places and funding, and on other education issues. That is a great asset to me as Minister for Education and Training. This week university courses begin for this academic year. It is most unfortunate that in Western Australia thousands of young people have missed out on gaining a place at university when they have obtained marks that would enable them to get into a course in virtually every university in every other State in Australia. That is totally unfair on young Western Australians. We have worked hard in the past three years to improve the performance of the education system in helping young people to improve their scores, and in getting more young people through year 12 and so on, so that we can get more young people to the door of universities. We have been successful in doing that, although not as successful as we would have liked. A record number of people - 22 400 - applied for university places in Western Australia this year, of which just over 15 000 were offered a place in the first round and 900 were offered a place in the second round; therefore, about 5 000 people missed out. The entrance scores for courses in Western Australia are in some cases 20 per cent higher than the entrance scores for comparable courses at universities in other States. That is very unfortunate. Again, I must thank the member for Southern River and other members of Parliament who assisted, and the university vice chancellors, because we lobbied Brendan Nelson, the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, on this issue, and he did provide additional university places for Western Australia. However, that was nowhere near the number of places that we were seeking. All the university vice chancellors have made their views clear on this matter. The situation that we are confronted with is that this year, and next year and so on, until something is done about the policy setting at the federal level, thousands of young Western Australians will miss out on getting a university place that they should be getting. I fundamentally disagree with Brendan Nelson when he tells people that they should not aspire to go to university but should go somewhere else. Young people have the right to aspire to go to university. It is true that we should also be encouraging people to pursue other courses or career paths, but not to the point at which we discourage them from wanting to go to university. What is opening up, of course, is the alternative route to university entrance; that is, buying a place. The federal Government’s agenda is to push more and more people, and the universities, into full fee paying places. Again, most people would agree that the fundamental problem with that policy and agenda is that it discriminates against people who cannot afford to buy their way into a university course. We have done well as a Government in preparing more young people for entrance to university. We need more assistance from the Commonwealth to allow these people to fulfil their aspirations.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Southern River for his assistance on this issue of university places and funding, and on other education issues. That is a great asset to me as Minister for Education and Training. This week university courses begin for this academic year. It is most unfortunate that in Western Australia thousands of young people have missed out on gaining a place at university when they have obtained marks that would enable them to get into a course in virtually every university in every other State in Australia. That is totally unfair on young Western Australians. We have worked hard in the past three years to improve the performance of the education system in helping young people to improve their scores, and in getting more young people through year 12 and so on, so that we can get more young people to the door of universities. We have been successful in doing that, although not as successful as we would have liked. A record number of people - 22 400 - applied for university places in Western Australia this year, of which just over 15 000 were offered a place in the first round and 900 were offered a place in the second round; therefore, about 5 000 people missed out. The entrance scores for courses in Western Australia are in some cases 20 per cent higher than the entrance scores for comparable courses at universities in other States. That is very unfortunate. Again, I must thank the member for Southern River and other members of Parliament who assisted, and the university vice chancellors, because we lobbied Brendan Nelson, the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, on this issue, and he did provide additional university places for Western Australia. However, that was nowhere near the number of places that we were seeking. All the university vice chancellors have made their views clear on this matter. The situation that we are confronted with is that this year, and next year and so on, until something is done about the policy setting at the federal level, thousands of young Western Australians will miss out on getting a university place that they should be getting. I fundamentally disagree with Brendan Nelson when he tells people that they should not aspire to go to university but should go somewhere else. Young people have the right to aspire to go to university. It is true that we should also be encouraging people to pursue other courses or career paths, but not to the point at which we discourage them from wanting to go to university. What is opening up, of course, is the alternative route to university entrance; that is, buying a place. The federal Government’s agenda is to push more and more people, and the universities, into full fee paying places. Again, most people would agree that the fundamental problem with that policy and agenda is that it discriminates against people who cannot afford to buy their way into a university course. We have done well as a Government in preparing more young people for entrance to university. We need more assistance from the Commonwealth to allow these people to fulfil their aspirations.
I thank the member for Southern River for his assistance on this issue of university places and funding, and on other education issues. That is a great asset to me as Minister for Education and Training. This week university courses begin for this academic year. It is most unfortunate that in Western Australia thousands of young people have missed out on gaining a place at university when they have obtained marks that would enable them to get into a course in virtually every university in every other State in Australia. That is totally unfair on young Western Australians. We have worked hard in the past three years to improve the performance of the education system in helping young people to improve their scores, and in getting more young people through year 12 and so on, so that we can get more young people to the door of universities. We have been successful in doing that, although not as successful as we would have liked. A record number of people - 22 400 - applied for university places in Western Australia this year, of which just over 15 000 were offered a place in the first round and 900 were offered a place in the second round; therefore, about 5 000 people missed out. The entrance scores for courses in Western Australia are in some cases 20 per cent higher than the entrance scores for comparable courses at universities in other States. That is very unfortunate. Again, I must thank the member for Southern River and other members of Parliament who assisted, and the university vice chancellors, because we lobbied Brendan Nelson, the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, on this issue, and he did provide additional university places for Western Australia. However, that was nowhere near the number of places that we were seeking. All the university vice chancellors have made their views clear on this matter. The situation that we are confronted with is that this year, and next year and so on, until something is done about the policy setting at the federal level, thousands of young Western Australians will miss out on getting a university place that they should be getting. I fundamentally disagree with Brendan Nelson when he tells people that they should not aspire to go to university but should go somewhere else. Young people have the right to aspire to go to university. It is true that we should also be encouraging people to pursue other courses or career paths, but not to the point at which we discourage them from wanting to go to university. What is opening up, of course, is the alternative route to university entrance; that is, buying a place. The federal Government’s agenda is to push more and more people, and the universities, into full fee paying places. Again, most people would agree that the fundamental problem with that policy and agenda is that it discriminates against people who cannot afford to buy their way into a university course. We have done well as a Government in preparing more young people for entrance to university. We need more assistance from the Commonwealth to allow these people to fulfil their aspirations.
Again, I must thank the member for Southern River and other members of Parliament who assisted, and the university vice chancellors, because we lobbied Brendan Nelson, the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, on this issue, and he did provide additional university places for Western Australia. However, that was nowhere near the number of places that we were seeking. All the university vice chancellors have made their views clear on this matter. The situation that we are confronted with is that this year, and next year and so on, until something is done about the policy setting at the federal level, thousands of young Western Australians will miss out on getting a university place that they should be getting. I fundamentally disagree with Brendan Nelson when he tells people that they should not aspire to go to university but should go somewhere else. Young people have the right to aspire to go to university. It is true that we should also be encouraging people to pursue other courses or career paths, but not to the point at which we discourage them from wanting to go to university. What is opening up, of course, is the alternative route to university entrance; that is, buying a place. The federal Government’s agenda is to push more and more people, and the universities, into full fee paying places. Again, most people would agree that the fundamental problem with that policy and agenda is that it discriminates against people who cannot afford to buy their way into a university course. We have done well as a Government in preparing more young people for entrance to university. We need more assistance from the Commonwealth to allow these people to fulfil their aspirations.
What is opening up, of course, is the alternative route to university entrance; that is, buying a place. The federal Government’s agenda is to push more and more people, and the universities, into full fee paying places. Again, most people would agree that the fundamental problem with that policy and agenda is that it discriminates against people who cannot afford to buy their way into a university course. We have done well as a Government in preparing more young people for entrance to university. We need more assistance from the Commonwealth to allow these people to fulfil their aspirations.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Southern River for his assistance on this issue of university places and funding, and on other education issues. That is a great asset to me as Minister for Education and Training. This week university courses begin for this academic year. It is most unfortunate that in Western Australia thousands of young people have missed out on gaining a place at university when they have obtained marks that would enable them to get into a course in virtually every university in every other State in Australia. That is totally unfair on young Western Australians. We have worked hard in the past three years to improve the performance of the education system in helping young people to improve their scores, and in getting more young people through year 12 and so on, so that we can get more young people to the door of universities. We have been successful in doing that, although not as successful as we would have liked. A record number of people - 22 400 - applied for university places in Western Australia this year, of which just over 15 000 were offered a place in the first round and 900 were offered a place in the second round; therefore, about 5 000 people missed out. The entrance scores for courses in Western Australia are in some cases 20 per cent higher than the entrance scores for comparable courses at universities in other States. That is very unfortunate. Again, I must thank the member for Southern River and other members of Parliament who assisted, and the university vice chancellors, because we lobbied Brendan Nelson, the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, on this issue, and he did provide additional university places for Western Australia. However, that was nowhere near the number of places that we were seeking. All the university vice chancellors have made their views clear on this matter. The situation that we are confronted with is that this year, and next year and so on, until something is done about the policy setting at the federal level, thousands of young Western Australians will miss out on getting a university place that they should be getting. I fundamentally disagree with Brendan Nelson when he tells people that they should not aspire to go to university but should go somewhere else. Young people have the right to aspire to go to university. It is true that we should also be encouraging people to pursue other courses or career paths, but not to the point at which we discourage them from wanting to go to university. What is opening up, of course, is the alternative route to university entrance; that is, buying a place. The federal Government’s agenda is to push more and more people, and the universities, into full fee paying places. Again, most people would agree that the fundamental problem with that policy and agenda is that it discriminates against people who cannot afford to buy their way into a university course. We have done well as a Government in preparing more young people for entrance to university. We need more assistance from the Commonwealth to allow these people to fulfil their aspirations.
I thank the member for Southern River for his assistance on this issue of university places and funding, and on other education issues. That is a great asset to me as Minister for Education and Training. This week university courses begin for this academic year. It is most unfortunate that in Western Australia thousands of young people have missed out on gaining a place at university when they have obtained marks that would enable them to get into a course in virtually every university in every other State in Australia. That is totally unfair on young Western Australians. We have worked hard in the past three years to improve the performance of the education system in helping young people to improve their scores, and in getting more young people through year 12 and so on, so that we can get more young people to the door of universities. We have been successful in doing that, although not as successful as we would have liked. A record number of people - 22 400 - applied for university places in Western Australia this year, of which just over 15 000 were offered a place in the first round and 900 were offered a place in the second round; therefore, about 5 000 people missed out. The entrance scores for courses in Western Australia are in some cases 20 per cent higher than the entrance scores for comparable courses at universities in other States. That is very unfortunate. Again, I must thank the member for Southern River and other members of Parliament who assisted, and the university vice chancellors, because we lobbied Brendan Nelson, the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, on this issue, and he did provide additional university places for Western Australia. However, that was nowhere near the number of places that we were seeking. All the university vice chancellors have made their views clear on this matter. The situation that we are confronted with is that this year, and next year and so on, until something is done about the policy setting at the federal level, thousands of young Western Australians will miss out on getting a university place that they should be getting. I fundamentally disagree with Brendan Nelson when he tells people that they should not aspire to go to university but should go somewhere else. Young people have the right to aspire to go to university. It is true that we should also be encouraging people to pursue other courses or career paths, but not to the point at which we discourage them from wanting to go to university. What is opening up, of course, is the alternative route to university entrance; that is, buying a place. The federal Government’s agenda is to push more and more people, and the universities, into full fee paying places. Again, most people would agree that the fundamental problem with that policy and agenda is that it discriminates against people who cannot afford to buy their way into a university course. We have done well as a Government in preparing more young people for entrance to university. We need more assistance from the Commonwealth to allow these people to fulfil their aspirations.
Again, I must thank the member for Southern River and other members of Parliament who assisted, and the university vice chancellors, because we lobbied Brendan Nelson, the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, on this issue, and he did provide additional university places for Western Australia. However, that was nowhere near the number of places that we were seeking. All the university vice chancellors have made their views clear on this matter. The situation that we are confronted with is that this year, and next year and so on, until something is done about the policy setting at the federal level, thousands of young Western Australians will miss out on getting a university place that they should be getting. I fundamentally disagree with Brendan Nelson when he tells people that they should not aspire to go to university but should go somewhere else. Young people have the right to aspire to go to university. It is true that we should also be encouraging people to pursue other courses or career paths, but not to the point at which we discourage them from wanting to go to university. What is opening up, of course, is the alternative route to university entrance; that is, buying a place. The federal Government’s agenda is to push more and more people, and the universities, into full fee paying places. Again, most people would agree that the fundamental problem with that policy and agenda is that it discriminates against people who cannot afford to buy their way into a university course. We have done well as a Government in preparing more young people for entrance to university. We need more assistance from the Commonwealth to allow these people to fulfil their aspirations.
What is opening up, of course, is the alternative route to university entrance; that is, buying a place. The federal Government’s agenda is to push more and more people, and the universities, into full fee paying places. Again, most people would agree that the fundamental problem with that policy and agenda is that it discriminates against people who cannot afford to buy their way into a university course. We have done well as a Government in preparing more young people for entrance to university. We need more assistance from the Commonwealth to allow these people to fulfil their aspirations.
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