Shake-up proposed for university applications

STUDENTS across the UK could apply for university after receiving all their exam results in what would be the biggest shake-up of the system for 50 years, officials have suggested.

Under proposals published by the admissions service Ucas, universities would no longer make offers to students based on their predicted grades.

The body said the changes had been put forward after a review found that the current application process is complex, lacks transparency and is inefficient and cumbersome.

The new system, which is likely to be introduced in 2016 at the earliest, would have a massive impact on the application system and lead to changes in both the school and university years across the UK.

The proposed changes would affect Scottish students differently to those elsewhere in the UK.

In Scotland, school applicants tend to apply to university in S6, having already obtained their Highers at the end of S5. These students are normally made unconditional offers by Scottish universities, effectively already resulting in a post-results system.

But some Scottish students may be taking further exams or re-sitting Highers in S6, so currently can be made conditional offers by universities.

Under the proposed changes, such students could in future wait until after they have all their results before applying to university if they intend to start that year. Those who have all their results already could put in applications at any time in the year.

The exam timetable and marking period would need to be brought forward slightly, so students still doing exams had their results in July and then applied to university over the summer.

The marking period in Scotland would be shortened from eight weeks to four weeks. University courses would start in mid-October.

In a review and consultation document to be published today, Ucas warned that the current system asked students to make choices about universities and courses before they were ready, with many needing to make decisions at least six months before they receive their results.

The report said: “The cumulative effect of predicted grades, insurance choices and clearing have led to a system that is complex, is thought to lack transparency for many applicants and is inefficient and cumbersome for higher education institutions.”

The review found that fewer than 10 per cent of students are applying to university with three accurate grade predictions. An estimated 20 to 40 per cent of university applications have predicted grades which fail to meet the minimum entry requirements of the course applied for.

In a bid to tackle the problems, Ucas advocated major reform of the system. The proposals will be considered in a consultation running to 20 January.

Professor David Eastwood, chair of the Ucas board and vice-chancellor of Birmingham University, said: “The review offers a range of proposals designed to reposition and refine the admissions system.

“The board is not committed to any one solution, but we are committed to continuing to provide an outstanding admissions service that is transparent and fair, and meets the needs of applicants and our member institutions.”

A Universities Scotland spokeswoman said: “We are supportive of looking at ways in which the applications experience for prospective students might be improved and to see if efficiency of the process can be increased for universities.

“However, proposals to move to a system of post-qualification applications will need very careful consideration. We will look at the detail of this consultation very closely over the coming months.”

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), said: “The unfairly maligned admissions tutors can only work with the tools they are given and we hope this report will move us towards a better and fairer system. We shall be consulting with our members who work in admissions.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We would support efforts to make the admissions system easier to understand and more accessible to non- traditional applicants, but we will want to consider carefully, along with the wider education sector in Scotland, whether the changes proposed could achieve this.

“The review conclusions must take full account of the differences that exist north and south of the Border and the impact that any proposed changes would have on all parts of the education system.”