1. VTAC SEAS Categories

1.  VTAC SEAS Categories

2.  Viewing SEAS Applications

3.  Re-ranking SEAS Applications

a)  Re-ranking guidelines

b)  Equity targets

4.  RMIT Direct ACESS Scheme

5.  Assistance

The VTAC Special Entry Access Schemes (SEAS) are designed to identify and assist VTAC applicants who have experienced disadvantage or barriers to participation in education and training.

Applicants are encouraged to describe the impact of disadvantage and the centralised assessment is focused on impact.

Applicants can apply under one or more of the below categories.

If an applicant has an ‘E’ in the Special Entry column of the VTAC offer worklist their SEAS scoring will appear when the Results/Qualifications button is selected for the applicant.

The SEAS category numbers (listed above) are shown with the correlating score in brackets on the right hand side of the Results/Qualifications screen.

Categories 2, 4, 5, 9 and 10 are centrally assessed by VTAC. Each application is rated on a scale of 0-5 to indicate the level of disadvantage experienced by the applicant during their educational studies.

In addition to the numerical ratings, ‘N’ denotes insufficient evidence was provided and/or the category was not assessed by the VTAC panel.

Some categories contain an eligibility flag (either in addition to or in isolation of a rating):

Category 1: Eligibility = T or U or blank. U denotes the applicant is at least 21yo (meets general eligibility for university and TAFE). T denotes the applicant is at least 18yo (meets general eligibility for TAFE).

Category 3: Eligibility = Y (Yes) or blank. Yes denotes the applicant identifies with an indigenous community.

Category 5: Eligibility = CC or CU or O or OD. CC means electronic confirmation of Centrelink benefits. CU means no electronic confirmation of Centrelink benefits but CRN was provided. O denotes 'other' financial claims (note: this may be due to manual confirmation of benefits being chosen by the applicant or applicant not in receipt of Centrelink benefits). OD means manual confirmation of Centrelink or other financial claims with Centrelink/other documentation provided. CC or CU are at the time of the last Centrelink data pull.

Category 6: Eligibility = Y (Yes) or blank. Yes means category submitted.

Category 8: Eligibility = Y (Yes) or blank. Yes denotes the applicant would like to be considered as a woman/man in underrepresented disciplines:

The following programs have been nominated by RMIT for inclusion for the 2010 VTAC Selection Period:

Men in under-represented disciplines:

Women in under-represented disciplines:

Category 9: A letter ‘H’ appears when a statement of support is supplied by a health care professional. The field is blank when the statement of support is supplied by someone other than a health professional.

a)  Re-ranking guidelines

When re-ranking applicants on the offer worklist selection officers should use the SEAS 0-5 scoring as a guide to the degree of re-ranking applied to both year 12 and non year 12 applicants, using a ‘middle band type methodology’; that is, re-ranking applicants that are not clearly-in but taking the SEAS score into account the same way you would with a typical, published middle-band re-ranking criteria.

A ranking of 1 (lowest degree of disadvantage) should result in a low level of re-ranking, a 3 should result in a moderate degree of ranking and a 5 (highest degree of disadvantage) should result in a high degree of re-ranking. Where applicants are eligible under multiple categories maximum consideration should be applied.

Categories 1 (mature age) and 8 (under-represented gender in discipline) are not given 0-5 score and are represented as described above with an eligibility indicator. Applicants under these categories do not submit a narrative account, nor is supporting evidence required. For the purposes of re-ranking guidance, it is recommended that a comparative mid-range score of 3 be applied to assist with consideration if that is the only category the applicant is eligible under.

Where the applicant has applied under the gender or mature age and another category/ies, we recommend maximum consideration be applied, with particular attention being given to applicants in gender/mature age and low Socio-economic categories. This method of maximizing re-ranking of applicants who have either a high score in one category, or mid range scores in multiple categories, is consistent with a general application of ‘middle band approach’ for the re-ranking of applicants.

b)  Equity Targets

Broadly, the overall 20% equity admissions target is divided into two groups to reflect the different timing of equity selection decisions, these are a guide only:

-  RMIT SNAP Scheme =12%

-  SEAS =8%

These targets reflect the percentage of enrolled students. Each program has it’s own knowledge of the management of offers and targets, however it is important to note that not all SEAS applicants who are made an offer will enroll for your program. Some programs may exceed these targets if they have enough capable applicants.

As RMIT’s Direct Admissions centre processes applications directly (i.e. not through VTAC) for part-time TAFE programs and later-year entry undergrad programs, RMIT offers an equity program that matches the VTAC equity categories for applicants who have an equity circumstance. This scheme is called the Alternative Category Entry Selection Scheme (ACESS) and has identical category numbering and eligibility as listed above for VTAC equity categories.

The direct application forms for these applicants are marked with an orange ‘equity’ sticker and have instructions and timelines attached to them.

The RMIT Equity & Diversity unit conducts case management on these applications and selection officers are required to view this assessment on the RMIT intranet Equity Database where the selection outcome is also recorded.

Please contact your College representative in the first instance or our Equity & Diversity unit to discuss SNAP applications

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