Australia's Chief Scientist Alan Finkel has slammed Australia's slipping performance in science and maths education, warning that "Australia does not yet have a long-term plan for its science, research and innovation system".

Dr Finkel attacked universities' entry standards for science and engineering degrees, calling on universities to require intermediate (2 unit) or advanced mathematics (extension 1 and 2) across the board.

"It staggers me that 13 of the 34 engineering courses offered in Australia accept fundamental [general] maths as a prerequisite even though this does not include calculus, and one of our engineering courses does not require any Year 12 mathematics at all," he wrote in the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering's Focus magazine, published on Wednesday.

It comes as UNSW became the first university to publish data on its offers, boosting transparency of entry requirements for prospective students.