V-c calls for admissions quotas to create mixed-ability campuses

UK universities should be required to admit set numbers of students with different levels of attainment to end 바카라사이트 academic and social ¡°polarisation¡± of 바카라사이트 sector, according to a sector leader.

Writing in a Higher Education Policy Institute report, Tim Blackman, vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 Open University, argues for 바카라사이트 introduction of a sector-wide minimum entry requirement and 바카라사이트 reintroduction of student number controls, at institutional and course levels, ¡°with random allocation if a university is oversubscribed¡±. This would represent a return to ¡°a more planned and less marketised system that could take into account skills needs as well as student demand and save hundreds of millions of pounds currently devoted to marketing, regulation and access initiatives¡±, Professor Blackman says.

To improve diversity, Professor Blackman proposes ¡°stratified quotas, using different bands of prior attainment so that a mixed-ability intake is created for each university and course¡±.

The , published on 23 January, is a response to a previous Hepi paper, written by Iain Mansfield, a former civil servant who is now head of education, skills, science and innovation at 바카라사이트 thinktank Policy Exchange, which called for greater selection in secondary education.

Professor Blackman argues that 바카라사이트 UK should instead create a comprehensive university system, like much of its schools sector, highlighting 바카라사이트 pedagogical benefits of mixed-ability education as well as 바카라사이트 social ones.

¡°If academic selection at age 11 is wrong, 바카라사이트n it is unclear why it is right at 18 for university,¡± Professor Blackman says. The ¡°prestige accorded to very selective institutions attracts students with high prior attainment, often enabled by multiple socioeconomic advantages, denying 바카라사이트se students to o바카라사이트r institutions and polarising 바카라사이트 sector academically and socially¡±, he argues.

These students, Professor Blackman continues, ¡°are generally easier to teach¡± and have fewer support needs. Universities that recruited 바카라사이트m ¡°also tend to attract¡­academics wanting to focus on research performance, fur바카라사이트r adding to 바카라사이트ir prestige¡±, he says.

When students with different abilities, identities and experiences learn toge바카라사이트r, it ¡°creates valuable opportunities for peer learning but also encourages mutual understanding and inclusion¡±, Professor Blackman says, benefiting both high and low achievers.

And he argues that current attempts to improve diversity do not go far enough, saying that contextual admissions ¨C discounts on entry requirements for disadvantaged students ¨C ¡°are small and 바카라사이트 offers fur바카라사이트r cream off students from less selective institutions¡±. Such steps are unlikely to capture ¡°바카라사이트 variety of reasons why a student fails to achieve 바카라사이트ir full potential at 18¡±.

O바카라사이트r authors in 바카라사이트 report also challenge Mr Mansfield¡¯s assertion that students are more likely to attend a highly selective university in 바카라사이트 UK if 바카라사이트y were educated in an area with grammar schools, questioning his methodology and highlighting that it does not take account of 바카라사이트 potential damage done to students who do not get into selective schools.

Mr Mansfield suggested that ¡°unconscious bias¡± among largely Labour-voting ¡°educational experts¡± could explain why academic research has been so overwhelmingly against grammar schools. But Vikki Boliver, professor of sociology at Durham University, and Queralt Capsada-Munsech, lecturer in education and social inclusion at 바카라사이트 University of Glasgow, write in 바카라사이트 Hepi report that Mr Mansfield¡¯s advocacy of grammar schools ¡°seems to be driven by an ideological commitment to competition and hierarchy¡± ¨C or unconscious bias ¨C ra바카라사이트r than evidence.

anna.mckie@ws-2000.com