The 12 ANZ universities which now use the UMAT test as part of the admissions process to medical, dentistry and some clinical science courses have switched providers. The undergraduate and medical sciences admission test, from the Australian Council for Educational Research will be replaced next year by UCAT, from electronic testing company Pearson VUE.  The “computer-based” UCAT test will be offered at 30 test centres, with candidates accessing their results immediately, “without waiting for a lengthy marking period.”

Pearson VUE  administered a test for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians  which was abandoned while in progress in February due to a system failure. But Wayne Hodgson, deputy dean education in Monash University’s medicine faculty, speaking for the adopting universities says, “consortium member universities are very happy with our forthcoming move from a paper based test delivered on a single day to an online test delivered through an expanded geographical network of test centres using a much longer testing window. This provides much greater flexibility for candidates.

“This model has been successfully employed by our colleagues in the UK using the same Pearson platform for many years,” Professor Hodgson adds