Riot police have clashed with student protesters during an event at Sydney University attended by Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham.

Footage shows police officers forcibly removing about 30 students from the university’s library on Wednesday night.

“They pushed us up two sets of stairs, utilised headlocks, and at least two students were knocked to the ground,” student Cameron Caccamo told AAP.

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“(It was) really excessive force given that we weren’t violent.”

He said the group had been staging a peaceful rally to protest against the minister’s recent commitments to university deregulation.

Senator Birmingham told the ABC’s 7.30 program that talks were continuing with the university sector about the best way to manage the issue, and promised more details before voters go to the polls.

“We’ll have more to say ahead of the election about higher education policy and we’ll make sure that Australians understand what we’re doing, the reasons why we’re doing it,” he said.

“Our universities do need to be able to differentiate between each other, to innovate on the world stage, and that of course does require a certain degree of latitude for them in terms of how they structure their course and how they finance their courses to some extent.”

Meanwhile, the head of the Higher Educations Standards Panel has been asked by the federal government to canvas options to improve how students are accepted into higher education.

Some school leavers are taken on their ATAR scores, others because of school recommendations or interviews.

“The question here is not to stop this happening but to make it transparent,” Professor Peter Shergold told ABC radio on Thursday morning.

The existing system was opaque, ambiguous and confused and, intentionally or not, having a minimum ATAR requirement was misleading.

“We’ve got to put the student first and putting the student first means it’s got to be clear.”

Prof Shergold estimates only a third of students are admitted on their ATAR scores.