Early university offers may ease student anxiety but lower effort
Exam season for Australia’s senior high school students officially gets underway this week, with NSW reviewing the impact early university offers have on effort as the state’s students sit the HSC
READING LEVEL: ORANGE
As Year 12 final exams kick off in NSW this week, new rules will be introduced for universities in that state to govern how early entry offers are made to graduating students. The review comes after teacher and principal concerns that the practice undermines* the importance of NSW’s Higher School Certificate (HSC) qualification.
Tens of thousands of offers were made this year to the 67,327 students set to start their exams on Wednesday, amid concern from school principals that students stop studying as a result.
NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) chair Professor Peter Shergold said he was working with university bosses to set the new rules, which will be introduced to oversee how early offers are made.
“Early offers from universities can play a valuable role in reducing stress on students,” he said.
“The danger is if they start to undermine the importance of the HSC. NESA is working closely with NSW Vice-Chancellors on a set of principles to guide the use of such offers.”
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell on Monday signalled further policy changes to control how early offers were made, because she wanted to make sure they were “legitimate* and are reflective of students’ aptitude* and achievement”.
“For many students, particularly those who experienced lockdowns during their HSC years, early offers provide peace of mind and ease anxiety,” she said.
“However, it is clear that university entry pathways have changed significantly in recent years. How early offers interact with the HSC will be something that we will consider further.”
A Daily Telegraph audit* of early offers made to the state’s universities revealed at least 47,041 early offers for study in 2023 were made this year to the students on track to finish school. Some students have received more than one offer.
Mackellar Girls’ principal Christine Del Gallo estimated half of all students received early offers.
“I believe it has a really negative impact on the students’ performance, because once they have early entry, they don’t have any pressure or need to perform to their best or to continue working,” she said.
“Once they get the early entry, then they don’t perform well enough to get into a course that they really would prefer to do and is more suited to their interest and ability.”
Under the NSW University Admissions Centre’s school recommendation scheme, 24,417 early offers have already been made.
Western Sydney University has made 11,270 offers to students, Charles Sturt has given out 5,313 while Australian National University (ANU) in the ACT has given out 5,041.
ANU vice-chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt said the early offers gave students certainty.
A Western Sydney University spokeswoman said offers were made on the condition that students successfully complete their HSC exams and they were monitoring how they performed throughout their studies.
But SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Dr Jenny Allum also criticised the early offer scheme, estimating three quarters of students at her school had early offers.
“I think it makes them more likely not to try as hard as they can in exams,” she said.
“Universities claim that they’re trying to stop stress on kids – I think that’s ridiculous. It’s a marketing tool. It is a competitive market and they’re trying to lock in students.”
But some students agree they will start exams this week feeling calmer thanks to early offers.
Bethlehem College student Charlotte Milbourn, 17, said she was nervous about remembering everything for her exams, but has early entry spots in five different university courses to study marketing or business.
“If I didn’t have anything to fall back on, I would be more stressed,” she said.
Her classmate Gabriella El-Azzi, 17, also has a guaranteed spot.
“For people with a lot of anxiety heading into the HSC, like myself, when you get early entry it provides a bit of relief,” she said.
GLOSSARY
- undermines: weakens something over time, makes something less likely to succeed
- legitimate: appropriate, official, proper, legal and acceptable
- aptitude: a natural ability or skill
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QUICK QUIZ
- How many NSW students are set to start their HSC exams this week?
- The Daily Telegraph university audit revealed how many early offers for study in 2023?
- How many student offers have been made by Western Sydney University?
- SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Dr Jenny Allum estimated what proportion of students received offers?
- What is the concern principals and teaching staff have about early university offers?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. University offers
Students feel a lot of pressure to do well in Year 12 exams so they get an offer to get into the university course of their choice. This new early offer scheme lowers that pressure, but teachers and principals think it means students do not try as hard.
Work with a partner and come up with two proposals of how schools and universities could work together to ensure students get the best score they can achieve, but also have less pressure to get into the university course of their choice.
Proposal 1:
Proposal 2:
Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Health and Physical Education; Personal and Social; Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
Sceptics might say that by making these early offers, universities are locking students into courses at their institution, which means they are guaranteed those students’ fees over the next four or more years.
Do you think universities have an ulterior motive in making these early offers?
What are the advantages and disadvantages for a student in receiving an early offer?
Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Personal and Social Critical and Creative Thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
1. Summarise the article
A summary is a brief statement of the main points of something. It does not usually include extra detail or elaborate on the main points.
Use the 5W & H model to help you find the key points of this article. Read the article carefully to locate who and what this article is about, and where, when, why and how this is happening. Once you have located this information in the article, use it to write a paragraph that summarises the article.
Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Science