Australian University Lowers Standards For Women Looking To Enter Engineering Degrees

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Sydney Morning Herald reported that UTS will allow women to enter engineering and construction degrees with a lower score on the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) than male students. Women can score 10 points lower than men and still be admitted into the degree programs.

As the Herald reported, many universities in the country “allocate adjustment points based on disadvantage or illness,” but UTS appears to be the first one to make the adjustment based on gender. As one can guess, the move to lower the entry bar for women is being done in an effort to get more women into engineering.

Dr. Arti Agarwal, director of women in engineering and IT at UTS, told the Herald that admitting women into the programs — even with lower entrance scores — would make the world a better place.

“Lots of research has shown that teams are more productive when they are gender balanced. They come up with better ideas and better solutions," she told the outlet. No such research was cited.'