Universities attack plan to lower grades for ‘diversity’
Making entry easier for ‘poorer’ students will push us down the international league table, say academics
UNIVERSITIES forced to lower grade requirements for poorer students have complained that they will fall down performance league tables as a result.
Top institutions are concerned about the “reputational damage” that could ensue from lowering entry requirements for “disadvantaged” students.
Universities are under increasing pressure from the Government to increase the number of students from deprived backgrounds. Under the current fees system, any English university wishing to charge tuition fees of around £6,000 or more must have an “access and participation plan” approved by the universities regulator, the Office for Students.
A widely used method to help to boost diversity is the “contextual offer”, where universities request lower A-level grades from poorer students as a condition of entry compared with those demanded of wealthier peers.
But some Russell Group universities are concerned about the impact this will have on their standing in league tables, according to a report published today by the University of Exeter.
Researchers from its Centre for Social Mobility interviewed nine of the country’s top institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, and the London School of Economics and Political Sciences.
Experts had previously claimed that the pressure to admit more disadvantaged students was to blame for British universities slipping down world rankings.
Professor Alan Smithers, head of the centre for education and employment at the University of Buckingham, said then that the decline was because “universities are no longer free to take their own decisions and recruit the most talented students, which would ensure top positions in league tables”.
He added that pressure on Britain’s top universities to recruit more disadvantaged students “has diverted their attention from really providing the subjects and the fields that they feel are the most appropriate and drawing in the best students”.
But Chris Millward, the director of fair access and participation for the Office for Students (OFS), urged universities to set “more ambitious” plans to increase the intake of poor students.
“We are a long way from equality of opportunity,” he said. “I will be expecting universities and colleges to set more ambitious targets to narrow the
‘Universities are no longer free to take their own decisions and recruit the most talented students’
gaps.” Universities must “take measures to increase the pool of applicants with the high levels of attainment needed to enter many universities”, he continued, adding that A-level grades “can only be considered to be a robust measure of potential if they are considered alongside the context in which they are achieved”.
Sarah Stevens, head of policy at the Russell Group, said that all member universities took into account students’ backgrounds during the admissions process.
“Qualifications and predicted grades are a key indicator of academic ability, but universities take a range of other factors into account,” she said.
“This includes the school or college attended, where a student grew up, whether they are a care leaver, or whether they are the first in their family to enter higher education.”