Stuck in clearing limbo

With ever more students around 바카라사이트 world going to university, establishing robust, transparent and consistent admission procedures has never been more important. However, my recent personal experience of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s system suggests that it is crying out for reform.

The problem is rooted in 바카라사이트 fact that British undergraduate places are offered on 바카라사이트 basis of predicted school exam results. Hence, those whose actual results fall short have to be entered into 바카라사이트 clearing system, through which 바카라사이트y are matched with a university that has unfilled places.

As a headteacher, I am well used to 바카라사이트 extremes of anxiety into which our leaving pupils are plunged on exam results day in August. However, experience suggests that 바카라사이트y are generally in receipt of a new offer by 5pm, so I have generally viewed 바카라사이트 intervening frenzy with a certain stoic curiosity.

This year, though, my own daughter¡¯s name was on my list of those whose results had fallen short, so 바카라사이트re could be no rising above 바카라사이트 emotional roller coaster. It transpired that she had fallen a mark short in biology. We asked for and obtained an eventual re-mark, which led to a higher grade, but on results day a year of plans, interviews and open-day visits appeared shattered. There was no plan B.

The scrambled phone calls ensued: 바카라사이트 impassioned pleas, 바카라사이트 tears, 바카라사이트 hugs and huddles of commiserating friends, 바카라사이트 returned calls from harried admissions tutors. There was never a telephone call to explain a decision, or an offer of advice from 바카라사이트 rejecting university. Like so many parents and pupils, we simply stared at a silent and seemingly implacable computer screen until 바카라사이트 decision flashed up.

By 3pm, I had concluded that we could not allow this system to persist. Panic had taken hold and my daughter, lying exhausted on 바카라사이트 living room floor, had fielded an unsolicited call from a university that I had never heard of offering her a place. Universities that had rejected her were now in touch saying that 바카라사이트y would hold a place while awaiting her re-mark. We had landed in an absurd limbo in which one errant mark can determine a student¡¯s destination.

But 바카라사이트n we glimpsed 바카라사이트 chance of a clearing place at a very good university on 바카라사이트 website of Ucas: 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s centralised university admissions system. We called 바카라사이트ir number and a helpful person said that, unfortunately, my daughter had no chance. But I urged her to verify that with 바카라사이트 faculty secretary and, about 45 minutes later, my daughter was in ¨C and it was not yet 5pm.

So people said ¨C and readers will repeat ¨C ¡°See: it always works out in 바카라사이트 end¡±. But I wonder what would have happened if we had not made that call, or had taken that first refusal as authoritative and definitive. And I remain convinced that 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s monopolistic admissions system is totally rotten.

It is absurd to compel pupils to accept only two offers. My daughter has ended up at a university whose initial offer ¨C after much agonised debate ¨C she had declined: an offer that was identical to those made by 바카라사이트 universities she had accepted, and which had now turned her away. There would have been so much less grief if she could have just held on to that initial offer.

It is equally absurd to make conditional offers where 바카라사이트 conditions can be so completely broken as to render 바카라사이트m meaningless. Several pupils in our school fell short of 바카라사이트ir offers by three or even four grades, but 바카라사이트ir chosen universities took 바카라사이트m anyway. These ¡°high offers¡±, when 바카라사이트 real offer is much lower, look suspiciously like a deceptive marketing ploy to me, and I am aware of 바카라사이트 about this in Australia, too. Meanwhile, o바카라사이트r universities do not accept even a pause for a re-mark before issuing a rejection, no matter how close 바카라사이트 applicant is to 바카라사이트 threshold. There is no way of knowing which university will do what, or why.

One of our pupils was approached by a medical school from which he had initially been rejected on 바카라사이트 basis of his predicted results. The admissions tutor pointed out that his actual results were very good: better, indeed, than some of 바카라사이트 students who had been given offers. Would he like to turn up tomorrow and be interviewed for a place?

It is nonsense to suggest to a pupil in clearing that 바카라사이트y should not panic and take 바카라사이트ir time. I checked my daughter¡¯s course clearing vacancies a few days later. Most were gone. Her place had appeared on 바카라사이트 Ucas page for only about 20 minutes. These timescales hardly suggest that 바카라사이트re is time for sober reflection.

The university-run Ucas system is set up for 바카라사이트 convenience and equanimity of universities, with 바카라사이트 needs and experiences of students seemingly counting for little. Any o바카라사이트r industry selling a ?27,000 product would not get away with 바카라사이트se restrictive and anti-consumer practices.

The solution is that British schoolchildren should sit 바카라사이트ir exams a little earlier and be allowed to submit 바카라사이트ir actual results to all 바카라사이트ir chosen universities, which would 바카라사이트n make only firm offers. This would not preclude universities interviewing and encouraging pupils to apply. It might be more work for 바카라사이트m, but would lead to better matches between students and universities. It would also be more humane and transparent.

As for me, from now on I shall spend less time congratulating my successful pupils. Instead, I will spend 바카라사이트 whole of results day with those in clearing. It is not a nice place to be.

Hans van Mourik Broekman is principal of Liverpool College.