Scotland's top universities urged to slash entry grades

In what would amount to an unprecedented overhaul of university enrolment, academics said elite institutions such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews should drop entry requirements to five ‘B’ grades at Higher for top courses such as medicine, law, accountancy, science and mathematics, writes Andrew Denholm for The Herald.

The current benchmark for the most competitive degrees can often be five ‘A’ grades at Higher with scope for only two grades to be lowered for bright students from poorer backgrounds – so-called adjusted offers. Academics said it would still be possible for students to secure a degree even with the significantly lower entry requirements and the impact would be to double the pool of eligible candidates from deprived communities.

The recommendation comes in a new report by academics from Durham University commissioned by the Scottish Funding Council which states: "The evidence suggests that a high probability of progression from year one to year two of an undergraduate degree programme can be achieved with Higher grades of BBBBB at highly selective higher education institutions.”
Full report on The Herald Scotland site