Universities taking students who don’t meet their offer

UNIVERSITIES are admitting students whose A-level results are up to five grades below their original offer, a leading headmaster has warned.

Chris Ramsey, head of the £37,860-ayear Whitgift School in south London, said that Russell Group institutions are increasingly giving places to 18-yearolds regardless of whether they meet their offers or not.

Mr Ramsey, who chairs the universities committee at the Headmasters’ and Headmistress’ Conference (HMC), told the annual HMC conference in Manchester. “The biggest gap at my schools was five grades down from the offer admitted.

“We had plenty of fives across HMC schools, fours were commonplace, threes, twos.”

He said that in the past two to three years, there has been an increase in the number of students being accepted to their universities of choice despite missing their offer.

Mr Ramsey said that if this pattern continues, university offers risk losing their integrity as word spreads among pupils that they do not really need to meet their offers as they may well be given a place either way.

The trend comes amid fierce competition among universities to attract students, even if it means disregarding their usual entry requirements.

The lifting of student number controls in England in 2015 gave universities free rein to recruit as many undergraduates as they see fit – but the move has led to accusations that they now act like businesses, seeking to maximise their revenue by recruiting as many students as possible.

A dip in the population of 18-yearolds has also heightened competition between institutions.

Universities have also been giving out more unconditional offers.