Admissions Reform project

Background

Introduction of new admissions processes for domestic and international students to facilitate a more diverse cohort and provide a streamlined experience. 

The Senior Management Group (SMG) formally approved the consolidation of the Admissions Scholarship and Accommodation (ASA) and Student Planning and Selection Framework (SPSF) project under the ANU Admissions Reform on 30/5/2019. 

The Admissions Reform project sits within the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic portfolio and works with stakeholders from Admissions & Scholarships, MSRD, Accommodation Services, PPM, and Colleges. 

Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) is our implementation partner.

In 2021, the project transitioned management of systems and process to the business areas and moved into a review period.  The review will consider systems, processes, people and governance with the main objective to articulate the ideal state for ANU by 2025.

Progress

Domestic Direct

To align with the ANU Strategic Plan 2017-2021, the University sought to provide prospective domestic undergraduate applicants with the ability to apply for admission to the University, using an ANU Selection Rank, equity and a skills-based co-curricular schedule, through an ANU branded and integrated ASA process. This enables the University to make offers to a more diverse range of prospective students, provide a more meaningful way of early engagement with applicants and streamline processes.

The implementation of this new model was successful and allowed ANU to pivot strategy quickly to adjust for COVID-19 and provide certainty for domestic Year 12 students in a very uncertain period for Australia.

International Direct

The primary objective of the Project was to support the University‘s strategy to achieve a smaller, higher quality and more diverse cohort of students by implementing:

• A student selection process;
• An integrated approach to marketing and student recruitment;
• A planning framework that informs the student profile and deliberate size;
• An admissions system that enables applications to be managed, tracked and assessed through a single portal, with processing and ranking activities undertaken centrally to ensure consistency, transparency and compliance, and Governance arrangements that define roles and responsibilities