Australia

Evaluation
Senior secondary school certificates of the Australian States and Territories are usually considered to satisfy the general entrance requirements of UK universities if a tertiary entrance score/rating at a specified level has been achieved. Both the school leaving certificate and tertiary entrance ranking should be taken into account when evaluating admissions potential.

Grading System

Capital Territory

Secondary Education - ACT Year 12 Certificate:
Five classes of courses - the T Course prepares students for HE. Graded A - E, with A being the highest.

Australian Scaling Test (AST):
Measures scholastic aptitude.

Tertiary Entrance - Tertiary Entrance Statement (TES):
Is awarded to students who meet the requirements for the award of a Universities Admission Index.

New South Wales

Secondary Education - Higher School Certificate (HSC):
Graded in percentile bands indicating the student's place in rank order across NSW.

Tertiary Entrance - Universities Admissions Index (UAI):
Graded on a scale of 0 - 100 with increments of 0.5.

Northern Territory

Secondary Education - Northern Territory Certificate of Education (NTCE):
A score of 1 - 20, and an alphabetical scale of A - E are used (20 and A being the highest).

Tertiary Entrance - University Aggregate:
Scaled out of 100.

Queensland

Secondary Education - Student Education Profile:
Comprising a Senior Certificate and Tertiary Entrance Statement: Graded in terms of Very High Achievement (VHA), High Achievement (HA), Sound Achievement (SA), Limited Achievement (LA), Very Limited Achievement (VLA)

Tertiary Entrance - Tertiary Entrance Statement:
Overall Position (OP) indicates a student's rank order as being in one of 25 bands (Band 1 being the highest).

South Australia

Secondary Education - South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE):
The Record of Achievement records subject results for the last two years of secondary education.

Tertiary Entrance - Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER):
Entrance points are calculated out of 20 to the nearest 0.5: (A) 20 outstanding achievement, (A) 19 - 17 very high achievement, (B) 16 - 14 high achievement, (C) 13 - 11 competent achievement, (D) 10 - 8 marginal achievement, (E) 7 - 3 low achievement, (non-graded) 2 - 0 requirements not met.

Tasmania

Secondary Education - Tasmanian Certificate of Education (TCE):
Graded on a 20-point scale: 20 - 17 Outstanding Achievement, 16 - 9 High Achievement, 8 - 1 Satisfactory Achievement.

Tertiary Entrance - Tertiary Entrance Score:
Percentile ranking of students within the cohort.

Victoria

Secondary Education - Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE):
Levels of performance are graded A+ to E and UG (ungraded).

Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL):
A vocational qualification broadly comparable to the Victorian Certificate of Education.

Tertiary Entrance - Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank (ENTER):
A percentile ranking within the cohort.

Western Australia

Secondary Education - Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE):
Statement of Results records achievement including Tertiary Entrance Examination score.

Tertiary Entrance - Tertiary Entrance Examination (TEE):
Graded A - E, with A being the highest grade.

Education System
All aspects of primary and secondary education are the responsibility of the individual State or Territory government. Systems have distinctive features and are comparable in leading to a reasonably broad matriculation-type examination in most. These examinations, together with school assessment, are seen as the appropriate basis for entry into a three-year degree or a four-year honours degree in Australia. Each State and Territory has its own education department which is responsible for publicly funded secondary education. Each determines its own policies and practices on such matters as curriculum and awards. Secondary schooling is five or six years, finishing with Year 12.

Access to Higher Education
Australian universities are autonomous self-regulating higher education institutions (HEIs). The sector also includes non-university institutions. Australian universities accept senior secondary certificates as outlined above as a general basis for entry to university programs in conjunction with specified prerequisites. University entrance requirement is most usually linked to the school leaving certificate system in its own State or Territory, but students can apply to universities outside their own region. For example, in New South Wales, the Universities Admissions Centre calculates a UAI reported out of 100 at intervals of 0.05. On this basis, cut-off points for the University of New South Wales in 2002 were: medicine 99.75; law 99.30; architecture 88.05; electrical engineering 82.00, arts 77.00. The South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre (SATAC) calculates TER. Current cut-off points for the University of Adelaide are: arts 68.00; commerce 91.80; computer science 71.00; electrical and electronic engineering 87.65; law 98.00 (reserve place). For entry to the University of Queensland, the following OPs were required for courses commencing in 2002: arts OP10; commerce OP6; engineering OP8; information technology OP9; law OP2.