Victoria will push for mathematics to become a prerequisite for specific university courses when ministers meet to discuss the nation's worst ever PISA results.

Australian students' declining results in mathematics have led to a call for universities to make maths a prerequisite subject for entry to more courses.

Education ministers will gather in Alice Springs for two days on Wednesday and Thursday to debate the best response to Australia’s declining performance in the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment.

The release last week of 2018’s test results revealed Australian 15-year-old students have slid from well above average when first tested in 2003 to average in mathematics among OECD nations.

Australian maths students are effectively three years behind students from Singapore, the test’s highest-ranked nation.