"Just to put the lid on this religious bias thing once and for all..."

So for a 'relationship bonus' the student walks into the admissions centre and says to the assistant "I received your offer for the Flexible Entry Scheme..."

And catholics are okay with this?

(As Eric Morecambe might have said, "Wahey!")

The more I look at this the more it stinks.

I think we are essentially a fair lot so why does this get a pass?

If I were a parent with a child who was competing with another to access a particular university place these I probably would be prepared to wear the following;

- The other child received a boost to their ATAR because they attended a notably poorer school without the facilities and teacher quality afforded my child.

- The other child received a boost to their ATAR because they attended a rural school since that sector produces markedly poorer ATAR outcomes.

- The other child received a boost to their ATAR because they had taken on the extra burden or either learning a new language.

This one I would have a harder time swallowing but I can appreciate the rationale;

- The other child received a boost to their ATAR because training in a sport to an elite level thus eroding available study hours.

What I wouldn't wear is that the only difference between the other child and mine is the fact that they are Catholic. What are we becoming if this is an accepted measure?

Not sure that flexibility is necessarily the most desirable characteristic in this instance, Wm Trevor.

>>So for a 'relationship bonus' the student walks into the admissions centre and says to the assistant "I received your offer for the Flexible Entry Scheme..." And catholics are okay with this? (As Eric Morecambe might have said, "Wahey!")<<

I see you're still banging the drum, SteeleRedux.

>>What I wouldn't wear is that the only difference between the other child and mine is the fact that they are Catholic. What are we becoming if this is an accepted measure?<<

It isn't, as has been amply demonstrated right here on this thread, with multiple examples including your own attempt:

>>I thought I would look at a regional Catholic university and so chose Ballarat... Without doing exhaustive research I make it 39 religious/private schools to 14 state schools are part of the ANU Ballarat relationship group... I would say that an over 3:1 ratio is a religious bias<<

Please don't try to get a job as a statistician. It was the "without exhaustive research" that blows your conclusion out of the water, even allowing for the (apparent) random nature of your target selection.

Relax. We are far less concerned about religious bias than ever before in Australia's history. Confecting outrage that a professedly Catholic institution should appear to look kindly upon Catholics does no more than raise a tiny eyebrow in the grand scheme of things.

And as for your higher-education-as-charity scheme, try for one moment to see it from the point of view of the university, and those who made it there on educational merit.

SR,

Before you get your knickers in a knot.

Private universities and schools are subsidised far less than public universities and schools. These private institutions have the right of association and are given the leeway to encourage certain students, as long as others are not excluded. Catholic universities tend to have strong Catholic theology departments for which I would guess there are few non catholic applicants.

A 5 ATAR bonus is not huge, and is similar to that given rural students etc in public universities.

Dear Pericles,

Yes I am still banging that drum. My apologies if it has disturbed you but I had taken you at your word that you had signed off and nothing that we could write here would induce you to return;

“[No correspondence will be entered into regarding that sign-off]”

Another misunderstanding it would seem.

If you have any issue with my statistics you are more than welcome to furnish your own or show me where mine are wanting.

Let me frame this another way. If this were a university run by Chinese/Australians and they had decided that they would only accept one Caucasian for every three Asiatic students then there would rightly be an outcry.

We have a healthy ethic in this country of not wearing discrimination based on race, colour, or creed. It rightly offends us when we see it. My example is concerns race, the Catholic University's discrimination concerns creed.

Dear Shadow Minister,

While that might be true of funding at a high school level it is not at the university level. ACU gets the bulk of its funding from government funding of the places it offers and from student fees. I do not accept its level of funding is less than other non-Catholic universities and would need to see figures supporting your contention to alter that view.

Further I have no issue with a Catholic University giving an ATAR boost to a student wishing to do a Catholic Theological degree if that student had a solid high school grounding in Catholic religious teaching. But that would be the case in so few the places on offer. In fact ACU is in the top 4 universities whose students move to other institutions to complete their courses. Many chose it as an alternative pathway to get into institutions for which their ATAR was not high enough to grant them first preference.

You clearly missed the reference, SteeleRedux.

>>...I had taken you at your word that you had signed off and nothing that we could write here would induce you to return; “[No correspondence will be entered into regarding that sign-off]”<<

But you can be forgiven for missing the re-casting of the sign-off of the Two Ronnies, "It's goodnight from me... and it's goodnight from him". Quite possibly, you are far too young to remember them.

>>If you have any issue with my statistics you are more than welcome to furnish your own or show me where mine are wanting.<<

I tried to do exactly that.

>>I thought I would look at a regional Catholic university and so chose Ballarat... Without doing exhaustive research I make it 39 religious/private schools to 14 state schools are part of the ANU Ballarat relationship group... I would say that an over 3:1 ratio is a religious bias<<

Statistically, that's "wanting" in anybody's language.

>>Let me frame this another way. If this were a university run by Chinese/Australians and they had decided that they would only accept one Caucasian for every three Asiatic students then there would rightly be an outcry.<<

And that's a pretty ridiculous comparison. Even you must acknowledge that, surely.