1. Queensland University of Technology CRICOS No. 00213J WHICH PREFERENCE MATTERS? Jeff Holmes AAIR Forum 9 – 11 November 2011

2. CRICOS No. 00213J a university for the world real R QTAC – Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre Each application can be for up to six courses

3. CRICOS No. 00213J a university for the world real R QTAC QTAC is a non profit, public company established in 1990 by the six State universities that existed in Queensland at that time. The institutions that participate in QTAC have complete autonomy in determining their own admission requirements and principles of selection. Once these are determined, QTAC's role is to ensure that the admission rules and related procedures are correctly administered on behalf of these institutions.

4. CRICOS No. 00213J a university for the world real R QTAC QTAC's role is to provide and operate a centralised tertiary application system and to publish comprehensive information for prospective applicants. QTAC currently receives and processes applications for admission to the majority of undergraduate courses offered by the publicly funded universities in Queensland, Bond University, the Australian Maritime College in Tasmania, and to some courses at universities in Northern New South Wales. It also processes applications for selected courses for Queensland institutes of TAFE, Southbank Institute of Technology and some private providers of post secondary courses.

5. CRICOS No. 00213J a university for the world real R QTAC Data Available from the QTAC website 2007/1 to 2011/1 From the end of the QTAC process –Post churn across: Courses; Disciplines; Institutions; Period (3, 1 and 2) –Post churn after the December and January rounds –Post churn after the release of Queensland School Leavers Overall Position - OP

6. CRICOS No. 00213J a university for the world real R QTAC Data By preference – First preference to sixth –Applications –Offers –Acceptances –Enrolments Enrolments are from the verification of enrolment process post semester 1 census –Acceptance rates –Enrolments rates

7. CRICOS No. 00213J a university for the world real R QTAC Data By institution By QTAC in total All applicants School leavers From these two – non-school leavers has been derived

8. CRICOS No. 00213J a university for the world real R QTAC’s advice to applicants

9. CRICOS No. 00213J a university for the world real R QTAC 1st Preferences 2007/1 to 2011/1

10. CRICOS No. 00213J a university for the world real R 1 st preferences: 12% Offers (all preferences): 6% Acceptances (all preferences): 9% Enrolments (all preferences): 7% Growth from 2007/1 to 2011/1

11. CRICOS No. 00213J a university for the world real R QTAC Offers 2007/1 to 2011/1

12. Offers by preference as a percentage of total 2007/1 to 2011/1 School leaversNon-school leavers

13. QTAC Acceptances 2007/1 to 2011/1

14. Acceptances by preference as a percentage of total 2007/1 to 2011/1 School LeaversNon-school leavers

15. QTAC acceptance rates by preference 2007/1 to 2011/1 School leaversNon-school leavers

16. QTAC Enrolments 2007/1 to 2011/1

17. Enrolments by preference as a percentage of total 2007/1 to 2011/1 School leaversNon-school leavers

18. QTAC enrolment rates by preference 2007/1 to 2011/1 School leaversNon-school leavers

19. School leavers by preference as a percentage of total 2007/1 to 2011/1 OffersEnrolments

20. Non-school leavers by preference as a percentage of total 2007/1 to 2011/1 OffersEnrolments

21. Which preference matters? In 2007/1 for school leavers: – 74% of enrolments came from the 1 st preference; – 15% of enrolments came from 2 nd preference; – 6% of enrolments came from 3 rd preference; and – 2% of enrolments came from 4 th preference. In 2011/1 for school leavers: – 62% of enrolments came from the 1 st preference; – 18% of enrolments came from the 2 nd preference; – 10% of enrolments came from the 3 rd preference; and – 5% of enrolments came from the 4 th preference.

22. Which preference matters? In 2007/1 for non-school leavers: – 85% of enrolments came from the 1 st preference; – 10% of enrolments came from the 2 nd preference; – 3% of enrolments came from the 3 rd preference; and – 1% of enrolments came from the 4 th preference. In 2011/1 for non-school leavers: – 80% of enrolments came from the 1 st preference; – 12% of enrolments came from the 2 nd preference; – 5% of enrolments came from the 3 rd preference; and – 2% of enrolments came from the 4 th preference.

23. Observations The growth of applications has been greater than the growth of offers and enrolments; Non-1 st preference enrolments have increased, more so for school leavers; Enrolment rates vary depending on the preference of the offer, and between school leavers and non-school leavers.

24. Conclusions 1.If the growth of applications continues to be greater than the growth of offers, the number of offers to non-1 st preferences will continue to grow; 2.This will lead to more enrolments from non-1 st preferences; 3.Since enrolment rates decrease moving from 1 st preference down to 6 th preference, there will be fewer enrolments; 4.Since enrolment rates for each preference for school leavers have generally increased over the years, there will be more enrolments; and 5.Since enrolment rates for each preference for non-school leavers have largely stayed the same, there will be the same number of enrolments.