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ATN Engineering
Selection Test
To stay ahead of what graduates need and what employers want, the Australian Technology Network (ATN) has been trialling ATNEST – the ATN Engineering Selection Test.
From September 2007 some members of the ATN, which produces 26% of Australia’s engineering graduates, have been trialling an entry test that will seek out those potential students with the aptitudes to be the engineers of tomorrow.
The trial entry process has been developed in response to Australia’s increasing engineer skills shortage as a way to increase the cohort of potential engineers. It is also a response to recent national ATN research which has indicated that employers see the roles and responsibilities of engineers as fast-changing, and therefore they require graduates to possess a more varied range of aptitudes and skills.
School students, mature age students, and international students who may not have the traditional year 12 maths and science background have this new opportunity to see if they can be the engineers of the future – engineers with excellent problem solving skills, project management skills, interpersonal and communication skills.
The additional testing – a two and a half hour multiple choice test which assesses a candidate’s aptitude to think scientifically, solve quantitative problems, critically analyse information and display interpersonal understanding – has been developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).
The additional entry testing was available to International students in India, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates as well as at all ATN Universities in Australia.
