
ANU's entry standards were being questioned on this day in 1976, as a survey of the teaching staff revealed that "rather too many" had "suggested that ANU was a place for the borderline student". Many advised that better students opted to study at the major metropolitan universities like those in Sydney and Melbourne.
Professor Ian Ross conducted the survey, and suggested in a letter that the university may need to lift its minimum entry standards. He said that while the university was easy to defend in regards to its scholarship and research, it was not the same story for the undergraduate programs.
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"The same is not true for what we achieve in the teaching of undergraduates," he said. "Yet I submit that we should be concerned - very much concerned - that our achievements in the undergraduate field share that high quality which we would wish to claim for the whole of ANU."
Professor Ross had asked the teaching staff of their experiences of other universities to comment, with some general points emerging.
"The first is that ANU appears to stack up very well among the newer universities, but between those universities and the larger, older metropolitan universities, especially Sydney and Melbourne, there is evidence of a significant gap."