University Admissions

Some schools, most notably independent schools, are very effective at encouraging their pupils to apply to university, helping them to choose appropriate subjects to study during sixth form at A-level (or for Pre-U, IB and other types of qualification), and providing them with an education that makes them well placed to impress at interview and in exams and also fosters the skills necessary to succeed once they're at university.

it is safe to say that applications to university need to be judged on on individual people and not a universal approach, and they need to take the time that is most certainly needed to make a decision as important is this one, perhaps this is something that is not being done in the right way at the moment. Not all independent schools are the same and not all pupils at independent schools are the same, indeed, over 7% of pupils at ISC schools receive means-tested school bursaries and around a third receive some sort of financial assistance with their fees, for example school jobs. Secondly, quotas would undermine the independence of university admissions officers, forcing them to take candidates to satisfy a quota (the setting of which would inevitably be done under intense political pressure), rather than on the grounds of a candidates aptitude for the course applied for. This runs counter to the notion of universities being schools of academic meritocracy and would force them into the murky world of social engineering. Thirdly, the policy could be counter-productive at school level as it could encourage parents to pull their children out of good schools so that they could apply to university from a poorer performing school in order to take advantage of their quota. it would not work out at all when it comes to schools looking for greatness in education.

Widening access to universities is an important aim, but using the artificial device of quotas to deny places to good applicants simply because they went to good schools is not the solution.

Tags: education universities, Schools