'Oxford has to look at more than just A-levels'

More students than ever are achieving top grades, but the task of admissions tutors remains the same, says Michael Collins

Study at Oxford is about the acquisition of knowledge and understanding, and about learning. Mastering specific skills may form part of that process, but as a tool rather than an end; teaching may be a vital ingredient, but what an undergraduate learns for him or herself is no less important.

These guiding principles for a university education were set out in the Robbins Report nearly 40 years ago. The university system has undergone massive expansion since then, and its national role changed, but the Robbins principles still hold among the great universities of the world.

The Oxford tutorial system is geared to these aims. Oxford seeks the most able students and those most able to benefit from its education. We are not alone in this goal; every university with world-class aspirations does the same. If this sounds élitist, it is, but it is élitism in a meritocracy and not, as some might accuse us, of class.

How, then, are we to select our students? In the past, universities played a central role in school examining and A-levels were geared to the requirements of university admission. Failure or poor performance meant just that; an outstanding performance similarly. But the role of the A-level examination has changed to become more of a sixth-form leaving certificate. As the pass rate approaches 100 per cent, there is every reason why the range of grades awarded should reflect bands rather than identify only a handful of outstanding pupils. That is precisely where the problem facing the leading universities lies; in the case of Oxford, far more applicants are predicted to get three As – and there is no reason to suppose that they won't – than we have places for. Indeed, this shows that a move to post-qualification admission might present more problems than it would solve in Oxford's case.

One must not forget our goal. It is neither to reward nor to condone the past; it is to seek the most able candidates for the courses available. We need to look at more than GCSEs and A-levels. We expose candidates to problems that they may not have seen but which are soluble with their knowledge, and to ideas with which we can help.

The first is via a test and the second via an interview.

How do we do this in mathematics? All candidates who come for interview take the same test. This is marked centrally to assure consistency, and full results are made available to tutors before the interviews. The interview is geared to the interests and aspirations of each candidate. I myself will always ask for a favoured area and pose my first questions there; one goal of the interview is to judge the motivation and ability to study a single subject intensively for three or four years.

Every candidate is interviewed in at least two different colleges, and each college makes an overall assessment of every candidate based on school record, reference, test and interview. The allocation of a second college is made to maximise candidates' prospects and to ensure proper cross-calibration. Thus, three "new" pieces of information become available during the interview process – the test mark, and the two college assessments, reported on a numerical scale. Our database and web interface will give each tutor access not only to information about his or her own college's applicants, but also to the status of every candidate. We seek to ensure that no one is overlooked; tutors who have seen candidates they cannot take but wish to recommend can bring them to the attention of other colleges still seeking to fill places. The maths tutors collectively bring more than 1,000 man-years' experience of admitting and teaching students, and the special nature of the Oxford tutorial system ensures that they have a personal input into the ultimate success of those they choose.

Other subjects differ in their procedures, but the aims are uniform. Oxford can admit less than 0.5 per cent of each age group. So entry is competitive and failure to gain a place no disgrace. No application system can be perfect, and we seek to be fair to all applicants. But we can select only from those who apply; our challenge is to seek applications from all those who could qualify.

The writer is the Pye Fellow in mathematics at University College, Oxford, where he was formerly senior tutor and tutor for admissions. He is now Organising Secretary for admissions in mathematical sciences for the university