The University of Technology Sydney has sparked controversy after it unannounced it would lower its ATAR requirement for female students wishing to enter its engineering courses next year.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the plan designed to boost the number of women in the field is considered by some to be a “hand up, not a handout” in what continues to be a male-dominated industry.

Female participation in some UTS engineering programs was as low as four per cent.

Although NSW universities are able to apply to the Anti-Discrimination Board to allocate adjustment points to students based on disadvantage or illness, UTS appeal to give 10 ATAR adjustment points on the basis of gender is a landmark move.

UTS director of women in engineering and IT Arti Agarwal applauded the move, saying the creation of gender balance in what has traditionally been a male-dominated workforce would increase productivity and the quality of ideas and solutions.

“We (women) ride in cars, we use public transport, we do all kinds of things,” she said.

“If they are only being designed and engineered by one gender, then the requirements and needs of the other gender can get missed a bit.

“The decision would not lower the quality of the graduates. I really cannot stress this enough — we are not taking people who don’t deserve to be here.”

However, not all were convinced of the validity of the idea. Director of higher education at the Grattan Institute think tank Andrew Norton said research had suggested even women who had qualified as engineers chose not to work in the industry because of the male-dominated nature of the workplace.