ENG417: Sustainability Analysis of University Entry Standards

This report examines the sustainability of entry standards to professional universities in Australia, focusing on the engineering and information technology professions. It investigates previous attempts to regulate these standards, comparing them to policies in other countries, particularly Canada. The analysis includes a discussion of the impact of lower entry standards on the engineering profession, specifically civil engineering. The report highlights the responsibilities of various government bodies and universities in setting and managing these standards, including funding models and admission processes for domestic and international students. It also presents statistical data on student enrollment and government funding, as well as the impact of these policies on university rankings. The report concludes with an assessment of the sustainability implications of these policies, drawing on the provided sources and the assignment brief's requirements.

RUNNING HEAD: SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY ANALYSIS 0
SUSTAINABILITY
STRATEGY ANALYSIS

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Policies for Entry standards in professional universities.................................................................2
Domestic student..........................................................................................................................4
International Student....................................................................................................................4
Policies Measures enacted in other countries..................................................................................6
Canada..........................................................................................................................................6
United States................................................................................................................................8
Civil Engineer................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
Australia officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the
mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands
(Malaspinas et al., 2016). The University admission as well as the college admission is
considered the procedure through which students enter tertiary
education at universities and colleges (Deygers & Malone, 2019). The systems or the procedure
of taking admission in colleges varies generally from country to country, whereas also from
institution to institution. In many of the countries, potential university students apply for
admission during their last year of high school or community college (Fajnzylber et al., 2019).
However, in some countries, there are independent associations as well as government
community or agencies to centralize the administration of standardized admission exams and the
processing of applications. Australia uses the system of Federal government for the roles as well
as responsibility for providing the education or admission in the country in the Technical as well
as further colleges of Education (Abdelhamid et al., 2017). The degrees of the under graduation
at the professional universities for the students of home country students, are in the area of the
government of state and territory. In all the states apart from Tasmania adopts the central
processing divisions for providing the admission to the students in the degrees or the course of
under graduation for Australian people (Briggs et al., 2015). The same processing unit is also for
all the permanent residents in Australia, therefore application for all the international students as
well as students, who are Postgraduates, are frequently accept through all the individual
professional universities (Nicholas et al., 2015). In this report, the previous attempts to regulate
the entry standards in the professional University in Australia in comparison to other countries
are analyzed. In this, sustainability implications of lower entry standards to the engineering and
information technology professions are also discussed.
Policies for Entry standards in professional universities
The eligibility requirements and admission procedures for international students may differ from
one higher education or VET (vocation education and training) provider to another. The
eligibility requirements as well as the procedure of education admission in Australia will prove

SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY ANALYSIS 3
to be useful as a general guideline to all international students who wish to obtain either a VET
qualification or a higher education qualification in Australia. For the Australian engineering or
the information technology professions, the policies of professional Universities are that the
student should completed the 3-year graduation system for entry into most postgraduate courses.
For instance, bachelor degree like degree of B.Eng, B.Tech however, some of professional
universities need sixteen years of formal education, which mean that another 4-year degree
course after the graduation (Naylor & James, 2016). The previous attempts made to regulate the
entry standards to professional university degrees in Australia. The Australian government for
the Engineering and information technology profession manages the scheme of Higher
Education contribution. This scheme is the extension as well as somewhat same with the
program of higher education loan, it is for all the students, who all are undergraduate and the
admission in the professional universities is hardly narrowed by the potential students' ability to
pay up-front (Dinham, 2013). The Australian states adopt the system as well as the procedure
that awards the receiver with an Australian tertiary admission rank as well as policy of
International Baccalaureate to the student, who meet the minimum necessities according to the
requirements of professional universities, according to the states. The previous attempts show
that for the entrance in course of engineering as well as information technology, the students
should receive maximum rank that is 99.95% than that of their community group (Barrie, 2012).
The different states in Australia has different policies for taking the admissions in the
engineering as well as information technology professional like in the state of New south Wales
the centers of Universities Admissions process the application for providing the admission in the
engineering courses in all the institutions , which are participating. The state also calculates the
tertiary rank of the student. The policy was also to provide an entrance test before taking
admission in the universities, which is the test of special level entrance; the state government
takes the initiatives for processing the applications for the schemes of Educational entrance for
some fair funds. It reduces the fees of professional universities this result in increase in the
percentage of students that is 24.3% of domestic students and 33.6% of the international student
(Cavanagh et al., 2015).

SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY ANALYSIS 4
Domestic student
Year Percentage
2011 18.5%
2012 19.2%
2013 20.2%
2014 24.3%
International Student
Year Percentage
2011 27.8%
2012 26.7%
2013 24.2%
2014 33.6%
SOURCE: (Cavanagh et al., 2015)
The responsibilities of the policies were allocated among the government of Australia, all the
government of state as well as territory also developed by the universities themselves. The
universities made it themselves because most of the professional universities are establish and
acknowledged below the legislation of state as well as territory. The responsibilities describes
that the government of Australia has the prime responsibilities as well as duty for funding of
community in the high education for students. The Act was passed in the year 2003 that is Act of
High Education Support. This Act set out the all the information about the funding by the
government of Australia as well as it is related with the requirements of legislative (Dill & Soo,
2005). The Act was to strengthen the understanding base in Australia. Many of the Australian
professional universities participate in the program of State Competitive funding which all are
eligible for every fund like University of Central Queensland, Deakin, and Griffith. Other

SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY ANALYSIS 5
universities like Bond and Torrens University, these universities are only eligible for funding of
commonwealth study in the fields of engineering as well as nursing education. These initiative is
taken by the government so that the universities simplify the procedure and examination as well
as reduce the cut offs. The various other programs introduced by the government in Australia for
the entry of the students in the professional universities like program of Loan for the high
education to the students. In this it, provide the financial support to the students, who all want to
pursue in course of engineering as well as information technology (Cavanagh et al., 2015). In the
previous year, the government provides the services of education to the overseas students, in
these legislation universities who all provide courses to international learners, for them the visa
should first initially meet the needs and requirements for getting the registration lying on
Common wealth Register of institutes as well as the course for all overseas students. Through,
this every institute, which is registered, gets the unique code for the courses. Australian visa of
the student can only be approved to start a course, when it is registered. The institutes must also
meet up the legislative standards for the activities of marketing activities, delivery of education
as well as other support services to the students (Perry & Southwell, 2014). The services of
education providing to the international students Act focuses on the education as well as
providing the financial support to all the international students also hold the provision for the
compliance examining for the institutes of education.
These policies showed that the universities in Australia provide not much of the incentives,
support as well as funds for bringing the conversion in which the higher development leads in
courses of technology based. The impact from the previous attempts made by the government to
regulate the entry standards to professional university degrees in Australia shows that no
universities of Australia has found in the top hundred rank. In 1995, just the 10.4% of students
pursue higher education in courses related to the Engineering as well as Technologies. Over the
past years, the University of Australia enrolment has revealed the substantial growth and
increases approximately by 60%. In the year 2000 the number of overseas students increases by
353% and Non-overseas by 171% (Worthington & Lee, 2008).

SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY ANALYSIS 6
SOURCE: (Worthington & Lee, 2008)
The revenue of the universities also from the news sources that in the year 1998, the Grants of
the government increased by 51%, fees as well as other charges increased by only 17% and 16%.
In the year 2003, in the state of new south Wales, the number of admissions for the students in
the professional universities for engineering course increased by 25% (Abbott‐Chapman, 2006).
The standards were influenced positively in the Universities of Australia, which also increases
the number of admissions from the international students in the universities of Australia.
SOURCE: (Abbott‐Chapman, 2006)
Policies Measures enacted in other countries
Canada
In Canada policy of the government, provide the opportunity for dual admission in some of the
universities in Canada like York University as well as University of Cape Breton for the
professions of engineering as well as information technology. In Australia the universities does
not provide dual admission to the students. The universities in Canada is different from the
universities of Australia, However the Canadian Universities is more similar as the University of

SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY ANALYSIS 7
America because in Canada because most of the institutions in Canada are funded by the public
that is up to $100 million (Kirkpatrick, 2014). It is because that the Universities provide
admission of the student in engineer profession at lower fees. For the international students the
government of Canada reduces the process for applying visa and the time reduced to sixty days
but other important documents should be adequate which includes the proof of completing the
earlier study. The student can apply for the visa within the ninety days after finishing earlier
studies; the cost for applying the visa is $105. However, in Australia the government takes the
initiative for the procedure of visa for taking admissions in some of the universities, which
provide courses to the overseas students, the Australian visa is not granted easily whereas the
cost for applying the visa in Australia was $535 (Rafi & Lewis, 2013). In the previous year’s
attempts were made by the government, for this it also made the policy of getting the admissions
according to the grades that is in the university of Alberta faculty of engineering as well as
Quebec for the professions of engineers. The universities of Canada, which is recognized by the
state government, required the maximum cut off up to 85% but the minimum is below 60% and
for the ST, SC it was 54% and 44% for making the entrance in the professional universities of
Canada in the profession of engineering and information technology (Clemens et al., 2015).
However, In Australia earlier, the maximum cut off were 99.9% for making entrance in the
professional universities for engineering as information technology professions.
Canada’s cutoff in professional universities of Engineering
Category Cutoff
List of common rank 85.76%
General 78.2%
OBC 74.3%
ST 54.01%
SC 44.3%
SOURCE: (Clemens et al., 2015)
The government of Canada also provides the policy of offering courses at concession rates to the
international students for taking entrance as well as admission in the technology- based

SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY ANALYSIS 8
profession. The Natural science and Engineering research council does the funding in the
universities of Canada like Alberta University as well as University of McGill for promoting the
course of engineering and provide admissions to the student at lower cutoff. As compared to
Australia, in which many universities of Australia like Central Queensland University, Deakin
University participates in the programs of government for funding in the engineer profession. In
Canada, the number of students in the profession of engineering and information technology was
9.5% whereas in Australia it was 10.5% (Davidson et al., 2010). In 2016, The Canadian
government also introduced the visa policy to attract the students from Asian countries, which
are India, China that is Stream of Student Direct for permitting the applications to the students,
who are authorized citizen of Asian countries. However, for permitting visa the student of Asian
countries has to pass the test of French as well as English language.
United States
In US the policies is majorly controlled as well as maintained by the third-party organization
whereas, in Australia the federal government mainly regulated the policies for entrance in the
professional universities. According to the National center for the learning information, the
enrollment of the has turn down in the year 2011.In 1960s policies of the government were to
merged the professional universities for the course of engineering to promote as well as to
develop the entrance of the women’s as well as African community in this course. However,
80% of the colleges as well as Universities are merged like University of North Carolina
Agriculture as well as Technical State University (Wilson & Weber, 2008). Therefore, in
Australia not such policies were developed to promote the admissions of women’s in engineering
courses in the year 1960. In the year 2008, the policy of US government was to reduce the funds
of state to the professional universities, this result in increasing the fees for the technology-based
courses that is the annual fees of the student for the private universities were increased up to
$16,757 in the technology-based courses (Forbes-Mewett et al., 2009). However, in Australia, in
the previous year, due to the increase in the policy of state funding the Australian professional
universities enrolment has showed the significant expansion as well as developed by 60% which
results in increase in overseas students by 353% as well as Non-overseas by 171% (Perry &
Southwell, 2014).

SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY ANALYSIS 9
Increase in the fees of universities in United States
University Fees
Public Universities $16,757
Non-profit institutions $43,065
Private Universities $23,776
SOURCE: (Forbes-Mewett et al., 2009)
The continuous increase in the fees for the professional universities in US, due to this the US
government simply the procedure of providing the educational loans to the students in the year
2016. The educational bank as well as other institutions of finance provides the loan with the
lower interest rate that is 9% (Betz & Kerner, 2016). This result in increasing the entrance of the
students in the engineering courses that is it is up to 16.2%, were in the mechanical engineering
course, 26.8% were in computer science. As compared with Australia, the policy of the
government is to provide financial support to the student. It is done through the initiatives of loan
program as well as also reduce the interest rate of the loan by 12.5% for the entry of students in
the professional universities this result in increase in profession of engineer as well as
information technology by 10% in the year 2016 (Wallen et al., 2016). In US, government made
the policies for simplifying the procedure of Visa for the international students as well as reduces
the cost of applying the visa that is up to $160, but for the dependent visa, the additional $160
should also be given. However, as compared to Australia the policies of the government was that
the student get the dependent only when, the student is pursuing with the masters degree in
engineering, the cost of applying the visa for the student is much higher than US that is $535
(Rafi & Lewis, 2013). In US, previous attempts were made to reduce the cut off in the
professional universities for technology-based courses that is minimum up to 60% whereas in
Australia maximum cut off were 99.9% for the entrance in courses of engineering (Nicholas et
al., 2015).

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Sustainability implications in Australia
It refers to the person who carry out civil engineering, In this the person plans, design, construct,
maintain as well as operate the keeping in consideration for protection of environment as well as
health of public and it also develop the existing infrastructure that is pipelines, roads, water etc.
engineering. The government begins with the scheme of statutory registration for the civil
engineers in all the states as well as territories in Australia. In Australia, some of the laws as well
as regulations made by the government to authorize only qualified civil engineers to make
entrance in the course of civil engineering. There was a compulsory program of certification
programs for the civil engineering, which includes the exam attributed by the Engineering
Council as well as scientific expertise Board. The government lowers the entry standard in the
universities and reduces the cutoff that is 65-75% for the admission in the profession of civil-
engineering. Through this, the number of qualified and competent civil engineering professional
is increased by 50,000 in the year 2010 (Fan et al., 2015).
SOURCE: (Fan et al., 2015)

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The lower standards impact the sustainability in Australia, because due to this many non-
competent students gets the admissions, which results in increasing the number of accidents in
the organization, while working that is in the year 2014, it was 48% (Dinham, 2013). These
lower standards also reduces the quality of civil engineer graduates and he average income
growth rate of the professional universities is also decreasing that is in the year 2013, growth rate
of universities in Australia was only 11.5% (Holmes et al., 2017). Due to increases in the
construction industry by 1.65 in the year 2017, the demand of competent civil engineer
decreases. However, this mismatches the demand and supply of the competent employees in
Australia.
Conclusion
From the above it is conclude that the admission in the University is refers to the system in
which the students enter into tertiary education at the universities . The government takes the
initiatives for the entry standards of the student in the professional universities, it differs from
procedure of taking admission in colleges varies generally from nation to nation. In Australia,
government has developed various policies for the entry standards in technology-based
profession that is providing the higher education loan to the students with low interest rate,
special level entrance. It also provides funds in the universities for reducing the fees of the
universities. From the above, it also concludes that in Canada, for the international students the
government lessens the procedure of appliance applying visa the rate is $105. However, in
Australia the government simplifies the process of visa only in some of the professional
universities, which offer courses to all overseas students. In US, the government made the policy
of promote the entrance of women’s by merging the universities whereas in Australia not such
policy was developed for the admissions of women’s in the course of engineering and
information technology in 1960. The government also lower the standards which increases the
entrance of domestic as well as international students in the professional universities of that is
which includes special visa policy etc.

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