Under Labour's plan, pupils would apply after getting their A-level results, instead of relying on predicted grades
IT IS, AT first glance, an odd way to do things. Universities in England decide early in the year whether to make offers to applicants, before they have any idea of how well they have done in their school-leaving exams, known as A-levels, which are taken in the summer. Instead, wannabe students provide their marks in earlier tests, a “personal statement” boasting of their brilliance and—most controversially—the A-level grades their teachers expect them to get.
It is not hard to find flaws in the current system. Teachers often get predicted grades wrong, and they are biased. Evidence suggests that they over-predict the grades that poor pupils will achieve—except when it comes to the cleverest among them, whom they tend to underestimate. Having pupils apply before they get their results makes it harder to get unconfident ones to aim high, says Anna Vignoles, an education expert at Cambridge University.
University bureaucrats worry about the upheaval involved in Labour’s proposal. If the application process were squeezed into the existing timetable, some dons would have to spend the summer screening applicants rather than doing research . It would also put applicants under pressure to make a life-changing decision very quickly, providing little time for them to visit campuses to give them a once-over.
Many of these problems could be solved by a more radical rejigging of the university calendar, perhaps with the academic year starting in January rather than September. And the switch to a post-qualification admissions system ought eventually to mean less work for universities. Under the current system, pupils apply to up to five universities, to insure against better- or worse-than-expected results.
The system is already moving in the direction of post-qualification admissions. Last year one in ten students got a place after receiving their results, via a system known as clearing. This has long been a way for students who miss their grades to find a last-minute alternative place. Now it is sometimes used to trade up, when pupils approach higher-ranked universities after getting better-than-expected grades.
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