We aren’t quite sure why this should come as a surprise to anyone: enrolments have increased by 27% since 2007 therefore the general level of ATAR for university admission has obviously gone down…?

The Go8’s conclusions seems reasonably sound:

Australian higher education is evolving from a mass to a post-mass or ‘universal’ system.  This is consistent with the policy intent of the Bradley Review of 2008.  The Government’s response to the Bradley Review has been enthusiastic, but partial. As in other countries, growth and diversification in the sector have outpaced policy development.  Elite models of university entry are less appropriate in a ‘universal’ system.  But more open access to higher education will require a sharper focus on learning outcomes and exit standards than has yet been in evidence.

Low entry scores a risk to quality

Universities are increasing offers to students with low school entry scores, prompting the Group of Eight to warn that without more resources attrition will rise or quality will fall.   University offers to school leavers with Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks of 50 or less have more than doubled in the past three years to more than 4300, the Go8 has found. These offers accounted for nearly 20%  of all the growth in offers to school leavers.  The Go8’s warning comes as new analysis by University of Newcastle psychology researcher Mark Rubin suggests working-class students are less integrated into universities than middle-class ones. The analysis will stoke concerns the expansion agenda risks an increase in dropout rates. The Go8 warned further that the growth in offers to less academically prepared students was happening before quality measures had been put in place to ensure standards. It reiterated its call for the adoption of a peer review process to assess student learning assessment following a Go8 trial last year. A similar process is being developed by another group of universities.  Without increased resources and attention to learning needs, attrition will increase or the quality of student outcomes will fall,the Go8 said in its policy paper. The Opposition has warned that increased participation in higher education threatens to seriously undermine quality and standards but it has yet to set out a plan of how it would do things differently.

Marcia Devlin (Deakin) identifies seven interlinked insights that are characteristic of sustainable, positive change in teaching and learning in universities.