The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) for all domestic students, or the ATAR-based Combined Rank (CR) for all International Baccalaureate (IB) students, are the primary criteria for determining the Selection Rank (SR) for admission into undergraduate courses in Australian public universities. Domestic Students are students who are Australian or New Zealand citizens, or Australian permanent residents, or the holder of long-term refugee visa. ATAR & CR are not applicable for international students as they must apply directly to each university separately and their SR is calculated by the university. The ATAR is calculated by each state or territory's own state-level Tertiary Admission Center (TAC) for all domestic students studying within their geographical limits. Interstate Domestic Students must apply to the TAC of their respective state. The Selection Rank is calculated by each University separately based on the ATAR or CR as well as additional points for each university's unique criteria such as a student's educational disadvantage or subject performance. ATAR is not a mark, but rather a percentile ranking between 0.00 and 99.95 which shows the student’s relative position compared to all other students in the range of 16 to 20 years old who would have completed their respective year 12 exams in that state in a year.
The ATAR rank provides an indication of the overall position of the student in relation to the student body for that year across the state. A higher ATAR gives preference to that student for the course to which they wish to enrol in a university of their choice. The ATAR is used by all Australian public universities via their respective state-level Tertiary Admissions Centers, which are the unified admission center for all the universities within that state or territory. These bodies then allocate positions for the tertiary institutions in their relevant states. Private universities, with the exception of Bond University, do not primarily consider the ATAR and students must apply directly. The list of state-level TACs are as follows:
Australian Capital Territory & New South Wales: Universities Admissions Centre (UAC).
Northern Territory & South Australia: South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre (SATAC).
Queensland: Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC).
Tasmania: University of Tasmania, Tasmania is an exception, where the University of Tasmania is the only tertiary institution and therefore acts as a self-governing admissions centre.
Victoria: Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC).
Western Australia: Tertiary Institutions Service Centre (TISC).
History
Introduction of ATAR
In June 2009, the Federal Minister for Education Julia Gillard announced the removal of all state-level university entrance scores and the introduction of a national Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) for Year 12 students of 2009 within the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales, and for the rest of the country, excluding Queensland, in 2010. The ATAR was introduced to unify the university entrance system in Australia, where previously each state or territory had its own individual system (UAI in ACT/NSW, TER in SA/NT/WA/TAS, ENTER in Victoria). In 2020, Queensland switched to the ATAR as the primary tertiary entrance pathway, replacing the Overall Position (OP).
2016 ATAR error
In 2016, a computer error allowed 2075 students to receive their ATAR score five days earlier than they were supposed to be announced. The external SMS provider for VCAA, Salmat Digital, created an error that allowed students to receive their results by texting VCAA and requesting their scores to be sent to them on the expected release date. This sparked outrage from parents of students who did not receive their scores, citing that they considered it "unfair", as well as concern about some students receiving their results before they were equipped to deal with them (particularly with regards to counseling).
