Entity titleCommittee on Special AdmissionsEntity identifier280Entity typeAgencyDate range1973 - 1988DescriptionAn ad hoc Committee on Monash University's Admissions Policy was established by the Professorial Board in July 1971 on the recommendation of the Council Commission on University Affairs. A joint Council-Professorial Board committee was subsequently established to implement a bursary scheme for underprivileged students in 1973 and to further investigate the position of underprivileged and disadvantaged students. In September 1973 the Professorial Board established the Committee on Special Admissions to administer two schemes approved by Council to give special consideration to prospective students for those suffering educational disadvantage and for those who were "early leavers".
The inaugural meeting of the committee was held on 18 October 1973. Membership consisted of the three members of the previous Joint Committee; three members of the academic staff of the faculties expected to be most involved, i.e.. Arts, Economics and Politics, and Science; two student representatives; and one non-academic member of Council. Through the 1970s and early 1980s numbers of applicants gradually declined and came to be largely concentrated in the faculties of Arts and Economics and Politics.
Although the committee gave serious consideration to broadening the scheme in 1985, in line with the Australian government's policy on access and equity in tertiary education, it was not until 1989 that the scheme was opened to all mature age students without requiring proof of disadvantage. At the same time administration of the scheme was reorganised with the dissolution of the Committee on Special Admissions in 1988 and the establishment of a student recruitment centre within the Careers and Appointments Service.
