Should the university admissions system be overhauled?

Analysis: Ahead of the Ucas application deadline, Eleanor Busby looks at the arguments for and against post-qualification admissions

Results first, then apply? (PA)

Sixth formers and college students across the country only have 24 hours to send off their university applications for September – and without any exam results, the process can be pretty daunting.

Most universities in England, Northern Ireland and Wales currently base their offers to prospective undergraduates on personal statements, predicted grades and references.

But many in the sector believe the admissions system needs to be overhauled. The University and College Union (UCU) says students should apply to university after they get their results.

The start of university courses could in that scenario shift to November to ensure that applications can only be made once students have their A-level or BTEC results, the union argues.

This is not the first time post-qualification admissions (PQA) in the UK have been called for and it will doubtless not be the last. The sharp rise in unconditional offers being made to students before they take their exams has brought the issue back to the fore.

More than one in three students who applied to university were offered a place on a course regardless of their actual A-Level or BTEC grades, recent Ucas figures show, prompting fears that standards could drop in universities and students could become demotivated in their final school year.

A move to PQA would eliminate these risks, say supporters. The Association of School and College Leaders has also called for the system to be brought in line with the rest of the world.

A study by UCU last year, which looked at different university admissions system in 30 major countries, found that no other country uses predicted grades to award university places.

A change would also remove the higher education sector’s dependency on unreliable predicted grades made by teachers, which Labour and social mobility charity Sutton Trust say can underestimate the ability of disadvantaged students in particular.

On the other hand, Ucas‘s chief executive, Clare Marchant, believes moving to a post-qualification admissions system could disadvantage vulnerable pupils as they would be forced into making a decision over a short period without support from their teachers, in the months after they have left school.

The other argument against changing the status quo is that universities would have insufficient time to consider a candidate’s all-round potential – and instead it could put a narrower focus on exam results.

A major overhaul of the system would also bring significant upheaval to the admissions cycle at a time when school, colleges and universities already face a series of reforms and challenges.

The sector is divided but the calls for change keep coming. It will be interesting to see whether the new universities minister, Chris Skidmore, wades into the debate in the upcoming months.