UTS Offers 10 Bonus ATAR Points to Women Applying for Engineering and IT

"We need to be disruptive–what we have been doing is not working."

In a surprising move, the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) has announced their plan to offer women applying for undergraduate degrees in engineering and information technology 10 adjustment points on their Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR).

According to a statement from UTS, women applying for a construction project management degree will also get 10 adjustment points.

Though this won’t officially change applicants’ ATAR, it will change their "selection rank", which is "your ATAR + adjustments", according to the Universities Admissions Centre. Your selection rank is automatically adjusted depending on the institute and courses you're going for.

The adjustment points are only for female domestic students who achieve a minimum ATAR of 69.00 (and that’s not including any other adjustment points).

The intention is to not lower the standards of entry, but, as UTS puts it, to "encourage more women to consider degrees and careers in professions that have been male dominated for decades". The move has been approved by the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board.

Though the change is bound to be controversial, National Manager for Professional Diversity and STEM at Engineers Australia, Justine Romanics, is quoted in UTS' statement saying, "We need to be disruptive—what we have been doing is not working."

As UTS reiterate, a mere 13 per cent of the current engineering workforce is female, while only 28 per cent of IT industry roles belong to women. And yet, women make up 58 per cent of all Australian undergraduate students.

"UTS is creating an environment for young women to study for fulfilling careers by increasing access to study options, providing resources during their studies with access to professional mentors, and to peer and industry networks for support and advice as they challenge the current gender imbalances," added UTS Women in Engineering and IT Director Arti Agarwal.

Perspectives on Twitter have been… mixed.

okay so #atar is trending rn because of UTS lowering the engineering mark for women and I just want to say that I think unis need to think about what defers girls from studying engineering (i.e. sexism in the classroom and the workplace) instead of lowering the required mark 🤷‍♀️

— maeve (@maeverourke) August 29, 2019

University of Technology Sydney letting women in with 10 ATAR points below requirement...UTS you are a joke, your engineering course has become a joke, and you’re doing your best to make women in engineering feel like a joke. #epicfail https://t.co/FqoslRQllF

— Liam Carroll (@CapeBardo) August 29, 2019

To the people complaining about a score: your ATAR is not a good measure of how well you will do at university.

The level of SUPPORT you have at university and whether you can even afford to participate are also important.

This can be changed - and UTS are changing it. https://t.co/TQJMn5GsNj

— Belinda Barnet (@manjusrii) August 30, 2019

So, what do you think? Is this decision by UTS a clever, inclusive and necessary move? Or does it devalue the degree, and the achievements of women in this field? Sound off below!

Header Image: UTS