Plea on university admissions

Citation

(1999), "Plea on university admissions", Education + Training, Vol. 41 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.1999.00441aab.004

Plea on university admissions

Plea on university admissions

Keywords Higher education, Social class, Universities

Some universities might be missing promising, perhaps even potentially brilliant, candidates by not being imaginative enough in the way they select people, minister for education and employment Baroness Blackstone told the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals.

She said: "I want to encourage you to look at your admissions policies. Do you have a strategy for widening access, including outreach activities with schools and colleges?

"Of course, with school leavers, we must have clear criteria which are rightly based on examination results. But sometimes, with more mature students, it is right to take into account other criteria as well, so that those with real potential and experience have the chance to benefit."

She pointed out that young people from families with no previous experience of higher education are still much less likely to go to university than those who do have that background. A narrowing has taken place, but there are still significant differences in participation between different social groups. Almost three times as many young people from professional and managerial backgrounds enter higher education as those from semi-skilled and unskilled backgrounds.

Baroness Blackstone continued: "I am not suggesting that universities and colleges are normally guilty of discriminating unfairly among those who have gained similar school qualifications. Differences in performance start early in school life, but there are also differences in what people aspire to and expect."

She said no one should be put off going into higher education for irrelevant reasons of family background. "Wherever they go in our universities and colleges, they should find a wide range of fellow students, from all sorts of backgrounds. No one should feel excluded, either by expectation or by the experience of applying to higher education."