Australian National University (ANU) has announced today that they will accept undergraduate students in 2021 based on their year 11 results, to confirm admissions amidst the chaos of COVID-19.
The pandemic has caused major disruption to year 12 students, with the majority of students forced to move to online learning while uncertainty looms for future assessments and final exams.
ANU will open their domestic undergraduate applications early with the aim to enrol 2500-3000 applicants by August. They will then do a second round of offers based on year 12 ATAR results.
ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop told The Age that the university recognises the “significant disruption” to the education system and has put these measures in place to provide certainty for some year 12 students.
“So students will still have to complete their year 12 studies but this will give greater certainty…they can focus on completing their studies, knowing that if their marks in year 11 meet our entry requirements, they can be admitted to one of the world’s best universities,” she said.
ANU is the first university to announce a specific response to the challenges posed by coronavirus and Bishop told The Guardian Australia that the rest of the year remains uncertain across the entire country.
“The separate education systems across our states and territories are yet to determine how year 12 results and ATAR will look,” she said.
“So we want to make an offer now, knowing year 12 students will experience a tough year in 2020.”
This week, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews called on Victorian universities to delay the start of the 2021 tertiary year, given the delays to exams and assessments that will occur.
While all states have confirmed that there will be no ‘year 13’ or mass repeating, what the rest of the year will look like remains unclear for many year 12 students.
Photo: English Exam schedule in Calendat By Marco Verch available HERE
