UK: Measures to unlock talents

Universities must adopt transparent admissions systems to help widen participation in higher education, John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, told the annual conference of Hefce, the higher education funding council for England, last week. Denham said there was much debate in the media about admissions. If universities tried to take account of a student's background and the challenges they faced, they were accused of political correctness and social engineering. Yet, others took the fact of a disproportionate number of students from more privileged background at a particular university as prima facie evidence of snobbery and social bias on the part of admissions staff.

"While there is no evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with most admissions, ultimately the debate is corrosive of public confidence in the system. It feeds the view that 'my child is going to lose out no matter how hard they work' – whether that child comes from a disadvantaged background, or a privileged one. The answer lies, surely, as it so often does in openness, transparency and accountability."

Denham has asked Professor David Eastwood, Hefce's chief executive and Sir Martin Harris, director of Fair Access, to look at how each university could adopt their own open and accountable admissions systems.

He announced further measures to “unlock the talents of all young people”, part of the government's drive towards a 50% participation rate in higher education for 18 to 30-year-olds. These included improving information and guidance to students to help them make informed decisions on education and careers at an early age; getting universities to work more closely with schools to improve access to science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM subjects), and finding ways of supporting part-time students and helping youngsters to move from further to higher education.

Professor Rick Trainor, president of Universities UK, said all universities supported Denham's commitment to widening access to higher education, and all had clear admissions policies: “We agree that openness of this kind benefits applicants.” But he hoped that consultations would follow: “While universities are happy to share information with government and applicants, decisions on admissions are for universities themselves.”

Dr Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group of 20 major research-intensive universities, said members had “robust procedures” to ensure admissions staff had the advice and guidance on how to select candidates who would flourish in its courses; universities publicised admissions policies on websites, podcasts, video online, and in prospectuses; all had strategies to widen access through summer schools, links with schools and initiatives to get students into schools to raise aspirations and tackle under-achievement.

“We have been very concerned by recent evidence which shows that children from state schools are less likely to take STEM and other traditional subjects," Piatt said “Some schools were not offering separate sciences at GCSE, yet those who did were 75% more likely to do well in science A-levels, such as chemistry. Maths A-level equipped students to take a range of courses and has a wage premium of up to 11% over their peers.”

She was also concerned by evidence that teachers might not be encouraging some of their students to consider Russell Group universities. Some teachers held “unhelpful prejudices” about Oxford and Cambridge, with nine out of 10 in a survey commissioned by the Sutton Trust underestimating the number of state school students currently enrolled at those institutions.