Calls for entry ‘flexibility’ for A-level students will help the already best positioned universities
The UK government has urged universities to be “as flexible as possible” in admissions this year, as it acknowledged that the grades to be awarded, with exams having been cancelled because of coronavirus, may not be fair for all students.
It is of course right that any inequitable scaling of grades needs to be remedied, both immediately with universities displaying flexibility and in due course by reconsideration of those algorithms. Irrespective of the former, the latter is important because too many employers still ask for A-level results for graduates, and because many A-level graduates do not, and do not want to, go to university.
However, encouraging universities to be flexible is a gift to those already in a strong position. They can justify filling their targets, plus 5%, by responding to this call for flexibility. They can accept students they would otherwise have declined and use their status to take additional students in adjustment, brushing aside questions about offer conditions, advertised tariffs, etc., with reference to the scaling discussion.
The institutions used to collecting students who miss their first preference will struggle even more than usual.
With the expected shortfall in overseas and taught postgraduate students, this is a good year for students wanting to gain a place at the most selective institutions, despite the record number of applications, with almost 7000 more undergraduate students likely to be placed than last year.
Read more on the FT.com website: https://www.ft.com/content/4eacf504-9d8c-46f4-9409-602dfaa7f26a