Advancement is generally based on seniority which is a numbers game only (ie if you start working on the 9th of May 2019 and I start on 10th May, you will automatically be 1 ahead of me in the queue for upgrade). Of course there are slight variations to that but they are usually down to individual choice, for example where a base change would be involved, or a transfer from short haul-> long haul or vice versa (as some prefer the rosters one way or the other).

certainly here, and I struggle to believe BA would be remarkably different, an upgrade out of seniority for educational qualification reasons would be unthinkable. Even flight hours barely come into it, merit seems to be totally excluded

(also from experience NZ/VA/JQ are the same so it’s not just QF/Australia)