GAMSAT Consortium’s Policies to be Authorised by ACCC
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has upheld the idea that had been proposed by the University of Melbourne, on behalf of the Graduate Australian Medical School Admission Test Consortium, regarding the authorisation of a five year policy. The afore mentioned policy included two plans of action, namely, ‘The Preference Policy’ and ‘The One Interview Policy.’ These selection Policies were put forward on 19th June 2009 and the ACCC announced its proposal to accept the Policies in a newsletter published on 29th October 2009, in ACCC official website.
According to The Preference Policy, the applicants will have to submit a single application to the Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admission Centre, where they will put in the names of medicals schools in the order of their preference. The students commencing in 2010 can put in the names of three colleges, while for the coming years the number of preferences that can be mentioned will be provided in the current Admission Guide. In case an applicant is not selected for the interview round then the school must pass the application to the next school in the applicant’s list of preferences.
According to the second Policy, the One Interview Policy, the applicants will get only one interview offer. The applicants who fail to go through the interview round successfully will be interviewed by the next medical school mentioned in their list of preferences.
Graeme Samuel, the chairman of ACCC, has said that the policies streamline the application and interview process and produce cost savings for both medical schools, which can interview fewer applicants to fill the places available, and for students who can avoid the costs of attending multiple interviews. He added, “Medical schools will continue to compete for the preferences of applicants. Further, the policies do not restrict the number of places offered to applicants or change the cost to study graduate-entry medicine. These are determined by the Australian Government.”
The ACCC authorisation will protect the Consortium from any kind of legal action. The ACCC will grant authorisation only when it recognises that the Policies will be beneficial for the public. Interested parties have been invited to make submission with regard to the draft determination by 13 November 2009, before the final decision is taken.
All the 11 universities which offer graduate-entry medicine have agreed to the Preference Policy and One Interview Policy. The participating universities are the Australian National University, Deakin University, Flinders University, Griffith University, University of Melbourne, Monash University, University of Notre Dame Australia, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, University of Western Australia and University of Wollongong.