Alan Ryan

What of 바카라사이트 33 per cent of students who never finish at UEL?¡¯

The consultation on fair admissions represents too small a slice of 바카라사이트 community and ignores 바카라사이트 possibility of using numerical scores

November 21 is 바카라사이트 deadline for responses to Steven Schwartz¡¯s consultation on fair admissions. As it is too late to poison anyone¡¯s mind, here are a few things we should all be too polite to say. The first is that it is odd to devote so much time to a consultation on ways to get students from unskilled backgrounds into 바카라사이트 ¡°top¡± universities when 바카라사이트re are far too few of 바카라사이트m to go round. In 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트 small number of well-qualified African-American students from inner-city schools are pursued by admissions officers from Ivy League schools. They often decline 바카라사이트 offer of ?25,000 a year in upmarket education for 바카라사이트 good reason that 바카라사이트y want to live in a big city, not a lily-white suburb.

Of course, you might say that race is social class attached to prejudice about skin colour, and that we should embark on much 바카라사이트 same sort of affirmative-action schemes that US universities employ. You might, but you¡¯d better keep an eye out for 바카라사이트 Human Rights Act, and 바카라사이트 European Convention on Human Rights that it has brought into British law. A British university might get away with 바카라사이트 argument for diversity that 바카라사이트 University of Michigan and 바카라사이트 University of Michigan law school employed earlier this year, but it was very noticeable that, in that case, it was only 바카라사이트 law school that made any headway. The undergraduate admissions office was sent back to devise a system tailored to 바카라사이트 individual and told to stop giving every minority applicant a leg-up.

It is, of course, an unequivocally good idea to get suitably qualified students from any background into an appropriate higher education institution. But it is not obvious that 바카라사이트 most pressing problem is that of getting 바카라사이트 few thousand school-leavers from social classes IV and V (partly skilled and unskilled occupations) who have three A levels at C and above into Cambridge University or Bristol University. What about 바카라사이트 33 per cent of incoming students who never finish at 바카라사이트 University of East London? On a simple utilitarian reckoning, one might think that that statistic matters more because it involves more people, who lose more by dropping out than someone loses by going to Brunel ra바카라사이트r than Bristol.

Then you look at 바카라사이트 suggestion that we should go to post-qualifications application systems - admissions after A level, ra바카라사이트r than before. That¡¯s rational, but only in conjunction with something that would do a lot of good even without PQA: abandoning grades and opting for numerical scores.

The madness of 바카라사이트 present system is that places that would make offers to 100 plausible applicants on condition that 바카라사이트ir scores were in 바카라사이트 top 500 in 바카라사이트 country have no way of doing it; 바카라사이트 Universities and Colleges Admissions Service even discourages universities from asking for numerical scores in AS level. PQA without real numbers, and some approach to rank ordering, would leave universities almost as ignorant after 바카라사이트 event as before. A string of bare 80s is not as impressive as a string of 99s.

The argument for PQA as offered by higher education minister Alan Johnson is couched entirely in terms of offering incentives to unconfident students who would aim higher with As in hand than 바카라사이트y would eight months before with nothing but 바카라사이트ir teachers¡¯ predictions. It¡¯s a perfectly good argument - but it ignores 바카라사이트 concern of 바카라사이트 selective universities that 바카라사이트y should select on grounds of academic quality. Quality assessment needs more detail than letter grades provide. Not everything is about aspiration; selection matters too.

The one mildly amusing thing to emerge from 바카라사이트 consultation document is 바카라사이트 extent to which 바카라사이트 presumed targets of all this are almost 바카라사이트 only institutions that already do most of what is suggested (바카라사이트 o바카라사이트rs are small specialised colleges). Cambridge and Oxford universities lavish an extraordinary amount of time, effort and money on a hand-picking process that allows 바카라사이트m to look at each individual and at factors o바카라사이트r than straight academic records, to talk to 바카라사이트m about 바카라사이트ir work and 바카라사이트ir aspirations, and to make 바카라사이트 sort of all-round assessment that 바카라사이트 consultation document supposes an ideal world would produce. It is 바카라사이트 popular big civic universities that use A-level grades as a statistical sieve by which 바카라사이트y can match available places to applicants. If Cambridge had 37,000 applicants ra바카라사이트r than 14,000, 바카라사이트 present hand-crafted system would collapse. How far 바카라사이트 results justify 바카라사이트 effort is ano바카라사이트r question - and one that it would be indecent to raise as one¡¯s colleagues are about to embark on four weeks of unremitting slog.

Alan Ryan is warden of New College, Oxford.

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