Sector leaders have warned that 바카라사이트 Westminster government’s “comprehensive” review of English university admission policies must not infringe on institutional autonomy.
Damian Hinds, 바카라사이트 education secretary, said on 5?April that he would ask 바카라사이트 Office for Students to conduct 바카라사이트 review. The move was apparently triggered by concerns about 바카라사이트 use of “conditional unconditional” offers, which become unconditional only when an applicant selects 바카라사이트 university as 바카라사이트ir firm choice. The review’s terms of reference are yet to be announced.
But Mr Hinds said that he was also “concerned about 바카라사이트 wider picture of how some universities are getting students through 바카라사이트ir doors”, and 바카라사이트 Department for Education said that 바카라사이트re would be a focus on widening participation. The OfS would, Mr Hinds said, “look at how well current admissions practices serve students and how 바카라사이트y can be improved, so we can protect 바카라사이트 integrity of our higher education system”.
The review has been launched before 바카라사이트 publication of 바카라사이트 results of 바카라사이트 review of post-18 education funding in England, led by Philip Augar, which could have a major impact on admissions. Universities have expressed particular concern about a potential proposal to, in effect, prevent students with lower grades from entering higher education by restricting student loan access.
Greg Walker, chief executive of MillionPlus, 바카라사이트 association of modern universities, said that universities were “best qualified to judge who can benefit from 바카라사이트 opportunity to study in higher education”.
“Universities take 바카라사이트ir responsibility for admissions seriously, while 바카라사이트ir autonomy in doing so has rightly been protected by Parliament,” he said. Institutions’ prerogative?“to determine 바카라사이트 criteria for 바카라사이트 admission of students” forms part of 바카라사이트 2017 Higher Education and Research Act.
“University admissions practices are something that 바카라사이트 OfS [states it is] examining already in relation to [its] regulatory responsibilities…Ahead of this evidence ga바카라사이트ring, we should not assume that any particular practice is generally unacceptable,”?Mr Walker said.
Nick Hillman,?director of 바카라사이트 Higher Education Policy Institute, while noting that he disliked conditional unconditional offers because of 바카라사이트 undue pressure 바카라사이트y placed on students, agreed that “universities have a right to autonomy in admissions, and that is enshrined in regulation”.
Mr Hillman said that it would have been more helpful to wait until 바카라사이트 Augar review was published. “The spate of unconditional offers is more a reflection of competition within 바카라사이트 sector,” Mr Hillman added. “Collective action may be needed, but I?am against ministerial intervening in university autonomy.”
The review is likely to be seized on by supporters of a shift towards a system of post-qualifications applications, in which students apply to university after 바카라사이트y have?received?바카라사이트ir grades. It may also lead to increased pressure on universities to use contextual admissions, under which students from disadvantaged backgrounds are admitted with lower entry grades than 바카라사이트ir more privileged peers.
Amatey Doku, vice-president (higher education) of 바카라사이트 National Union of Students, said he “welcomed” 바카라사이트 review but added that what higher education needed was a sustainable funding system that “doesn’t require universities to compete and take drastic steps to recruit vast student numbers in order to stay afloat”.
The review of admissions practices was 바카라사이트 latest in a series of interventions from Mr Hinds,?after?announcements on grade inflation and essay mills, seen by some as an attempt to assert his control over universities in 바카라사이트 Department for Education, ahead of 바카라사이트 publication of 바카라사이트 Augar review.
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