But he said it was a good news story because it proved the college's manual checks were an effective safety net.

"It seems that an attempt was made to change the marks of some students," he said on Tuesday.

But he said there was never any danger that UQ would admit students on the basis of falsified records, because the computer system that was targeted wasn't the one used to compile final results statements for pupils.

Industry sources said the results of 30 to 40 students were manipulated and the incident bore the hallmarks of an orchestrated hack.

The college won't say how many records were changed, just that it was fewer than 30 and only "some" were affected.