Universities set to cut number of offers after controversy

THE NUMBER of controversial “conditional unconditional” offers handed out by universities is likely to fall this year, Ucas has said.

Up to three quarters of the institutions who made this type of offer in 2019 are expected to drop it this year, the admissions service is forecasting. A record one in four university applicants from England, Wales and Northern Ireland were given a “conditional unconditional” offer, in which students are guaranteed a place if they make an institution their first choice, last year.

But there has been a growing backlash against the practice, amid warnings that it can lead to would-be students making decisions that are not in their best interests and sixth-formers taking their foot off the pedal and not achieving the grades in their Alevels or other qualifications they may have been expected to gain.

New data published by Ucas shows that in 2019, there were 35 universities and colleges where at least one per cent of offers made were “conditional unconditional”. Of these, there were eight institutions were over 50 per cent of offers made were “conditional unconditional”.

Seven of these universities and colleges were larger institutions, while one was a smaller institution that accepted less than 500 students on to its courses (regardless of offer type) in total.

Ucas said its data indicates a significant change regarding “conditional unconditional” offers, and forecast that as many as 75 per cent of those institutions who made at least some of these offers last year will not make them in 2020.

Clare Marchant, Ucas chief executive, said: “We forecast as many as 75 per cent of universities and colleges which made conditional unconditional offers in the 2019 cycle will no longer make these in 2020.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he was pleased at the fall in “conditional unconditional” offers.