Help get your child into uni

PHIL DOYLE/Sunday Star-Times

RUNNING: Papatoetoe High pupil School students Junior Prasad and Abby Pemberton face strong competition for university places.

Relevant offers

Education

School unapologetic for chewing gum expulsion Former principal gets community work New degree to boost te reo ACT banks on charter schools New degree to boost te reo Critics dispute Family First findings on day care Massey education students' year begins Principals give Govt an 'F' on class sizes Christchurch schools use recruitment firm Boy genius may finish school at 15

As overflowing universities face shutting out thousands of would-be students, experts are urging parents to brush up on NCEA tactics to give their children a fighting chance of getting in.

Most university courses are currently open entry, meaning that if a student's school grades (in NCEA or alternative exams) are above the national entrance benchmark, they will be accepted.

But the economic conditions of the past 18 months mean thousands of people who would otherwise be working have returned to study. So universities are bursting at the seams, after taking on thousands more students than they are funded for.

There are eight universities in New Zealand, with about 175,000 students and 20,000 staff.

Many courses, such as medicine, veterinary science or second-year law, have long restricted entry. But last year the University of Auckland made the controversial move to limit numbers across the board, and now others may be forced to follow suit.

If that happens, even school-leavers with University Entrance will have to compete for places.

Auckland University researchers recently found many children were missing out on university entrance because of unwise NCEA choices. The researchers said parents needed to do their homework on NCEA so they could guide their children. They have come up with a 10-step plan to help parents understand the complex qualifications system (see sidebar, right).

Abby Pemberton, a Year 13 student at Papatoetoe High School, said NCEA was confusing enough for parents now, without the added pressure of restricted entry. She is deciding what she wants to do next year but said her friends were all aiming at university. She said the prospect of restricted entry was "good and bad", because although some people would miss out, tougher entrance requirements meant university would no longer be seen as "just what you do after school".

A second Papatoetoe student, Junior Prasad, is fighting for a place in his course of choice: architecture at the University of Auckland, which takes a maximum of 40 students each year. He said he would feel "horrible" if he missed out, as he was passionate about technical drawing and his family had moved from Fiji to give him and his siblings a better education. Prasad has to wait until at least December to find out whether he has won a place.

Meanwhile, it is understood that vice-chancellors have been meeting to discuss their options for next year, when even more students will be looking for places.

Each university is funded for a certain number of EFTS (equivalent full- time students) agreed with the Tertiary Education Commission. They are allowed a 3 percent overflow but do not receive funding for those extra students. And if they go over the 3 percent cap, it is understood they can be "penalised" - although they are unclear what that means.

Five of the seven universities with open entry have already taken on between 2.9 percent and 6 percent more EFTS than they are funded for (the universities of Otago and Canterbury did not provide enrolment figures).

Victoria University had the smallest overflow of 650 EFTS (2.9 percent), but Vice- Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh said even this meant lost revenue of about $5 million.

The University of Waikato, where enrolments were about 6 percent higher than its target, had the biggest overflow. Massey University was 5 percent over and Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey said last week there was a "big question mark" over whether it could continue to carry so many unfunded students. He expected to know in a week or two whether the university would have to consider restricting entry.

PARENTS' ACTION PLAN

* Find out about NCEA. Learn about internally and externally assessed standards; achievement and unit standards; endorsements and credits.

* Achievement standards are more likely to lead to university. Understand there are often versions of the same subjects made up of unit or achievement standards or both.

* Start planning your child's academic future at Year 9. Leaving it until Year 11 may be too late, as many subjects have pre-requisites.

* Find out about the university entry standards for your child's choice of career and then work backwards when choosing NCEA subjects.

* If your child is unsure, keep their options for university open by choosing academic subjects such as English, maths and science.

* Recognise that University Entrance does not guarantee entry into many degree-level tertiary programmes.

* Encourage your child to do more than the minimum number of credits and do the best they can. This will improve their chances of getting into limited-entry programmes.

* Review their career goals each year to ensure they are enrolled in the correct subjects.

* Go to parent-teacher evenings and engage with the school. Discuss your child's aspirations and the subjects and courses they are taking.

* Encourage high standards and celebrate your child's successes.

- © Fairfax NZ News