More than half of all Victorian Year 12 students have applied for special consideration in their university applications, due to the impacts of remote learning and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Applications citing difficult circumstances have more than tripled this year as Victorian students struggled with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, bushfires and remote learning.
More than 30,000 Year 12 students have applied for category four of the state’s special entry access scheme (SEAS), categorised as “difficult circumstances”, which applies to their university entry and includes the disruptions of remote learning.
In 2019, only 10,016 students applied for the same category.
Of those applying this year, 30,536 cited remote learning, saying their ability to study had been “adversely affected by remote learning measures put in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Victoria currently has more than 50,000 students in Year 12 applying to university, meaning 60% of students have applied for category four special consideration.
Applications for other kinds of special consideration also rose, with category one applications (personal information and location) rising 2.5%, category two (disadvantaged financial background) rising 14.6% and category three (disability or medical condition) rising 17.9%.
According to the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC), category four special consideration applies to students “who have been prevented from reaching their educational potential because of family or other life circumstances”.
The scheme only applies to some participating universities, which are only in Victoria, and for some courses, which vary between universities.
The scheme does not increase a student’s Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (Atar), which is used nationally, but allows some universities in Victoria to grant students extra points to their selection rank, on a course-by-course basis.
Students can be offered a university place with a lower rank than they would otherwise need, but still need to meet other requirements.
The University of Melbourne said SEAS applications had risen about 10% this year.
The university’s special entry scheme, known as Access Melbourne, applies to all the undergraduate courses except for certain “graduate degree packages” and its chancellor’s scholar program.
A university spokesman said the “level of additional consideration applied can vary” for most SEAS applications. “Each application is considered by looking at a combination of the applicant’s Access application and their potential for success in the course – ie academic achievement. .”
In addition to remote learning, difficult circumstances also include refugee or asylum seekers status, circumstances related to sexual assault, homelessness, family violence, formal out-of-home care and the experience of the bushfires.
A spokeswoman for VTAC said the centre had developed a “streamlined” new process for category four applications given “all VCE students have been affected by the government requirement of remote learning throughout the Covid-19 pandemic”.
“Impacts accommodated as part of the expanded category 4 (SEAS) include lack of access to reliable internet, device access and sharing, and access to necessary practical materials,” she said. “VTAC understands that remote learning was experienced in many different ways for students and wanted to ensure students had the opportunity to have this disadvantage recognised as they apply to tertiary studies in 2021.”
