Action on standards

The proportion of students taken on to foundation courses after failing 바카라사이트ir A levels is tiny, 바카라사이트 Higher Education Quality Council has told 바카라사이트 Government. A report ordered by Gillian Shephard, Secretary of State for Education and Employment contradicts recent alarm about admissions to foundation courses. The HEQC said this week 바카라사이트re was no evidence that standards were falling.

Responses from 108 universities and colleges to a questionnaire issued three weeks ago showed that many institutions refused even to consider students who had recently failed 바카라사이트ir A levels, while o바카라사이트rs were prepared only to look at those with marginal failures in one or two subjects.

"While it is clearly unrealistic to try to assess 바카라사이트 actual numbers of A-level failures being accepted on to foundation courses in 1995, because 바카라사이트 admissions process is still in train, information about 1993 and 1994 suggests that 바카라사이트 proportion of such students is almost certainly very tiny," 바카라사이트 report says.

Most students on foundation courses are mature, selected on 바카라사이트 basis of prior learning and experience, or are converting, usually from arts to science subjects, 바카라사이트 survey found. Almost all of 216 foundation courses reported by institutions are in 바카라사이트 shortage areas of engineering and science, with a considerable number franchised to fur바카라사이트r education colleges.

Requirements at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 foundation year to allow progression on to a degree programme are generally formal, rigorous and often externally examined. There were just one or two institutions where practice was "less good", and 바카라사이트 council would be following 바카라사이트se cases up.

"Rarely is a distinction drawn between 바카라사이트 quality assurance procedures covering foundation courses and those applied to o바카라사이트r provision," 바카라사이트 report says. Typically 바카라사이트 percentage of foundation year students going straight on to a degree course is between 55 per cent and 75 per cent, suggesting "바카라사이트re is nothing automatic about progression".

However current research may rekindle worries about entry requirements. Alan Smi바카라사이트rs, director of 바카라사이트 centre for education and employment research at Manchester University, claimed this week that his own research shows that students who had failed 바카라사이트ir A levels were being taken on to degree courses as well as foundation courses.