Uni will not lower entrance grades
STUDENTS WITH LOWER GRADES ‘MAY STRUGGLE’
UNIVERSITIES should not simply lower entry requirements for A-level students in their efforts to compensate for disruption caused by the pandemic, a university leader says.
Professor Nishan Canagarajah, vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester, warned that students who are admitted on lower grades could struggle when they arrive.
He said reducing entry grades will not necessarily benefit the students who have faced the greatest disruption to learning.
Instead, universities should look at contextual information provided by schools in applications and offer transition support to bridge gaps in learning, he said.
His comments came after Birmingham and Surrey universities announced plans to reduce entry requirements by one grade for most courses in 2021.
Since then, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has announced GCSE, AS and A-level exams in England will not go ahead this summer and will be replaced by teacher assessments.
Leicester has said it will not lower entry requirements for 2021, but it will trust teachers’ judgments.
The institution will review schools’ submissions about the challenges students have faced due to Covid-19 alongside their applications.
Prof Canagarajah said: “What we need to do is to make sure they have the right knowledge to come into one of the universities and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Leicester will offer transition support to A-level students.
Prof Canagarajah said: “The key thing we want to ensure is our admissions process is fair and put the students first. The second priority is that when they come to university they should be able to benefit from the university education.
“So just lowering the grades and bringing them in doesn’t solve the problem, because they may still struggle without the basic knowledge.”
The Ucas application deadline for the majority of courses has been extended until January 29.
Prof Canagarajah said: “When it comes to admissions, I would urge all universities to focus on fairness to ensure students can still reach their full potential and achieve the grades they deserve.”