Major developments and changes

Structure and operation of VTAC

In 2003/04 it was noted that a risk management expert had been engaged to vet the disaster recovery/ business continuity plan. His report, although favourable, raised several key matters about VTAC's status, namely:

  • co-operative or incorporated governance structure
  • liability of individuals and organisations under the VTAC structure
  • the role of Monash University as the host institution acting on behalf of the signatories to the Constitution establishing VTAC
  • competition policy and the potential application of the Trade Practices Act to VTAC operations.

VTAC progressed consideration of these matters by referring them to the Vice-Principal and General Counsel, The University of Melbourne, for further advice. His conclusions were:

  • There is no actual or foreshadowed change in law or practice since the last review in 1999 which alters the position reached at that time supporting continuation of the cooperative unincorporated model for VTAC's operations.
  • The VTAC Constitution should provide indemnities to VTAC staff and committee members incurring liabilities where they are otherwise acting in good faith in the course of their respective employment or appointment within VTAC. The Constitution could also provide members with protection in connection with liability for the acts or omissions of fellow members.
  • Minor changes to the Constitution could be effected to clarify the scope of authority of Monash University as the authorised signatory and agent of all members.
  • There seems to be limited scope at present for liability to be incurred by members or staff under sections 45 and 45A of the Trade Practices Act.

Further to the above points and to overcome the administrative problem of having to refer all contracts/agreements to Monash University for attestation, it was agreed to amend the Constitution to include a series of delegations and limits where the Director alone, or the Director and Chair, may enter into contractual arrangements.

Internal audit

VTAC engaged, for due diligence reasons, the Audit and Risk Management section, Monash University , to conduct an internal audit over a three-year period. Their first report about organisation governance identified some areas in the Constitution, specifically the roles of the Board of Trustees and Management Committee, and appointment of Director, that could be clarified and delineated.

Appropriate amendments were made to the Constitution to address these matters.

2004/05 selection

The 2004/05 selection was entirely successful with no problems or issues and smooth and timely delivery. The transition to a no paper application form environment, which had been carefully planned, was executed with aplomb there being no negative reactions to this important change. Significant cost savings and improved efficiencies for both applicants and institutions resulted.

An equally important initiative, the introduction of Special Entry Access Schemes, was successfully implemented. This schema is currently being converted for the 2005/06 selection into an on line only arrangement, this change enjoying the strong support of schools and institutions.

A new application processing system, to be introduced for the 2005/06 cycle, was successfully trialled. The benefits of this system, primarily individual based treatment of applications delivering more accurate data to institutions, will be greatly enhanced by there being no paper forms.

A denial-of-service attack directed at VTAC's servers hosted by Telstra took place at precisely the time ENTERS were released to applicants. Redundancy arrangements were activated with traffic being redirected to servers at VTAC via an alternative URL, service to the public therefore remaining seamless.

International Baccalaureate table

Currently three states, Victoria , New South Wales and South Australia operate different tables to convert IB results into local measures of overall achievement. Each is based on a substantiated and justifiable methodology. The remaining states use the table developed by VTAC. VTAC is working through the Australasian Conference of Tertiary Admissions Centres to achieve a national table for 2007/08 admissions. All states save for South Australia , which is committed to undertaking further research in 2006 before a decision is made, have agreed to a revised composite table derived through a weighted average of the three existing methodologies. IB schools Australia-wide, have been apprised of this position through the regional IB office.

Fees and charges

Application processing fees, hitherto struck in accordance with relative cost of processing year 12 and non year 12 applications were received. It was decided in light of there being one only medium of application, web, to move towards a common fee in 2006/07.

New institutions

The Committee approved the participation of three new institutions - Ozford College of Business, SAE College and Eltham College of Education - taking the total of those participating to 56 - 13 universities, 14 TAFE institutes and 29 independent tertiary colleges.

August 2005