Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre blames technical blunder for incorrect ATAR notice
Education by Jack McKay
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Subscriber only Queensland Year 12 graduates have been wrongfully told they were ATAR ineligible in a technical blunder that has impacted tens of thousands of students. The Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre was conducting an internal test of their ATAR processes overnight when the testing results rolled over to their live production space . They have confirmed ATAR notifications were issued to 24,000 Queensland Year 12 students, who may have been told in the notification that they were ATAR ineligible. QTAC chief executive John Griffiths issued an apology to the Year 12 cohort this morning for the technical error.
CLAIMS of hacking have flooded social media after a email informed students state wide that they would miss out on a tertiary admissions rank. The email was sent by the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre at midnight, and told 24,000 students state wide they were ineligible for the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank. The ATAR is used by universities to help them select students for courses and admission. So the email caused late night panic among students whose final year in school had been thrown a curve ball by COVID. What s this email about being atar ineligible, pls tell me it s a prank, one concerned poster wrote on the QTAC Facebook page.
Last modified on Fri 11 Dec 2020 23.52 EST
The Queensland university admissions body has apologised after it accidentally emailed tens of thousands of year 12 students telling them they were “ineligible” for a university admissions score.
Due to an IT bungle, 24,000 students in the state received an email at midnight on Friday from the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre, a week before official results were due to be released.
Instead of a score, the email said they were “Atar ineligble”.
An Atar – Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank – is a national score that is needed for admission to university.
This is the first year that Queensland students would receive an Atar, which is replacing the state’s Overall Position (OP) score.
An IT bungle has left thousands of Queensland Year 12 students angry and upset after they were sent a late-night email saying they wouldn t be getting a university entrance score.
The message from the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre landed in inboxes just after midnight on Saturday telling 24,0000 students they were ineligible for an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, vital for their entry to university.
It left them stressed and angry, many taking to social media to express outrage. Can you explain why, at 12:03AM, myself and many other former Year 12 students received an email stating that we were ineligible for an ATAR rank? Lochlan Ibbertson asked on the QTAC s Facebook page.