Universities could face fines for offering high number of degree places regardless of exam grades, regulator warns

Institutions must not use unconditional offers to get students ‘through the door’, minister says

The education secretary has stepped in following a rise in unconditional offers (File photo) (Rex)

Universities that pressure students into accepting unconditional offers face being fined or deregistered, the higher education regulator has warned.

An indiscriminate use of unconditional offers with “strings attached” is akin to pressure selling and could put universities in breach of consumer law, the Office for Students (OfS) has said.

The warning comes after recent figures revealed that more than one in three students who apply to university are now offered a place on a degree course regardless of their final exam grades.

Just 1 per cent of 18-year-old applicants from England, Northern Ireland and Wales received an unconditional offer in 2013 – but 34 per cent of school leavers received this offer in 2018.

And now a new research paper from the OfS reveals that applicants who accept an unconditional offer are more likely to miss their predicted A-level grades by two or more grades.

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the OfS, has condemned the use of “conditional unconditional offers”, which only become unconditional if an applicant makes the university their first choice.

Data in the report shows that no conditional unconditional offers were detected in 2013, but more than 66,000 were made to 18-year-olds in 2018.

“We are concerned about the rapid rise in unconditional offers, particularly those with strings attached which are akin to pressure selling,” Ms Dandridge said. “It is plainly not in students’ interests to push them to accept an offer that may not be their best option.”

She added that universities should be encouraging students to make the decision that is right for them and “not the decision that best suits the university”.

“If we identify cases where unconditional offers are having an obvious negative impact on students’ choices or outcomes, we are of course prepared to intervene,” Ms Dandridge warned.

The higher education regulator can impose formal sanctions like financial penalties, suspension from the Office for Students register or deregistration in the most extreme cases.

Universities that are deregistered would lose access to public funding for teaching and their students would no longer be able to get loans. They also risk losing their degree-awarding powers and title.

Damian Hinds, the education secretary, had called on the OfS to use the full range of its powers against universities that cannot justify the rising numbers of unconditional offers being made.

Mr Hinds said: “The steep rise in unconditional offers across a wide range of subjects is disturbing, and I believe that widespread use of these offers is not in the best interests of students, who should be encouraged to reach their full potential.”

He added: “What I find particularly concerning is the OfS’s finding of how many of those accepting unconditional offers then miss their predicted A-level grades, because if university didn’t work out for that student it is those A-level grades they would fall back on.

“That’s why I am urging universities to use their offers responsibly and not just use unconditional offers to get students through the door.”

The research also shows that applicants from areas with the lowest higher education participation rates are more likely to receive an unconditional offer than their peers – as they are applying to universities which offer more places on degree courses regardless of A-level grades.

Chris Millward, director for fair access and participation at the OfS, added: “Our analysis suggests that more unconditional offers may be being made to students from underrepresented groups to meet the needs of universities rather than students.”

A Universities UK spokesperson said: “We do not yet have a full picture on the impact of unconditional offers on the students who receive them.

“While initial evidence suggests that some students with unconditional offers achieve below their predicted A-level grades, these offers are also more likely to be made to applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds, and can impact positively on these individuals’ mindsets as they approach life at university.”

The spokesperson added: “We will explore with Ucas [the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service] if there is more we can do as a sector to promote good practice and ensure the admissions system continues to work in the best interests of students.”