'Rate schools' on degree places

8 July 2011 Last updated at 12:09 GMT By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter Eyes on the prize: schools should focus on university entrance, says Ucas chief Schools should be rated on the number of pupils they get into universities, the head of the university admissions says.

Ucas chief Mary Curnock Cook says league tables have led schools to "unduly" focus on upping GCSE results.

She argues the focus should now switch to schools' higher education success to boost the number of poor pupils in universities.

The government plans to publish data on the destination of schools leavers.

Ucas chief executive Mrs Curnock Cook said: "Schools for many years have been completely focused on getting their percentage of five good GCSEs up.

"Until the government measures and tracks the destination of school leavers into higher education I don't think it will change. I think it is almost essential.

"Higher education has become mass education and more people enter higher education today than took O-levels in the early 1980s.

"The measure of performance in schools needs to shift up in the way that achievement has."

'Ambitions'

The comments come as a report for the education charity, the Sutton Trust, suggests five schools - including four top independent schools - get more pupils into Oxford and Cambridge than another 2,000 schools put together.

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Parents need as much data so they can make genuinely informed choices about which school is right for their child. ”

End Quote Department for Education Ms Curnock Cook also suggested that some schools were encouraging pupils into taking GCSE-equivalents, which will help pupils get through the five good GCSEs threshold, but which could hold them back in their university ambitions.

She said: "Some of these more applied-style qualifications are supposed to be equivalent to four to five GCSEs.

"One of the problems is that young people are advised at age 13 parents' evenings to take OCRs or BTecs, not that I have anything against these qualifications, but it is then much harder for them to transfer into the GCE (A-level) curriculum.

"Young people need to understand that more broadly based academic subjects won't close the door to anything.

"If you have a clutch of 3.5 A-levels - it gives you a broad spread of courses you can apply for," she added.

'Informed choices'

Some 73% of students who are accepted on to degree courses do so with A-levels. This rises to 90% for Russell Group universities.

A Department for Education spokesman said: "We live in an age when people expect to have access to much more information about every area of their lives, and schools should be no different.

"Parents need as much data so they can make genuinely informed choices about which school is right for their child.

"We are going to be publishing far more information about how schools do - including from next year, the proportion of students getting into Higher Education as well as into the top universities.

"This will help up standards; reduces perverse incentives to offer qualifications which universities and employers do not value; and make schools more accountable for their performance."

This week, Ucas reported a small increase of 1.4% on applications for university courses starting in 2011 compared to this time last year.

But this slight rise comes against the backdrop of a 3% dip in the number of 18-year-olds in the UK population compared to last year and a significant increase in the number of higher level apprenticeships being taken.

Some 566,000 candidates based in the UK have applied to universities so far this year. Last year some 432,524 applicants were accepted on to courses.

And there has been a significant drop, 36.7% or 17,447, in the number of applicants planning to defer their course for a year. Deferring would mean they would be paying higher tuition fees.

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Universities to fight for places

28 June 2011 Last updated at 17:02 GMT By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent University students are to be promised more information and consumer power Universities in England will have to compete against each other and private providers for a quarter of their student places.

Universities Minister David Willetts has published plans to increase market forces in higher education in England.

Promising to put "students in the driving seat", he also announced there would be 20,000 places reserved for degrees with fees less than ?7,500.

Labour's Gareth Thomas said that it was "expansion on the cheap".

He told MPs that this was a "desperate drive to cut fees, no matter what the cost to quality".

The controversial plan to create extra places for privately-funded individuals has also resurfaced - on the basis that it will be restricted to those sponsored by a business or a charity.

There are also proposals to allow students to make an early repayment on their loans - a politically sensitive suggestion which raises the prospect of better-off students not paying as much as those who pay back their loans over several decades.

Private providers

Mr Willetts said the reform package would "open up the system" and "put power where it belongs - in the hands of students".

The White Paper, called Students at the Heart of the System, brings forward plans to make universities bid for a proportion of their places - and a higher proportion than had been anticipated.

This raises the prospect that some universities will lose student places - and Mr Willetts said that no government could offer a guarantee that courses or even institutions might not close as a result.

Continue reading the main story Universities to compete for extra places for pupils with AAB grades at A-level20,000 places reserved for degrees with fees of ?7,500 or lessUniversities will have to publish information about students' employment chances and salariesInspections triggered if concerns raised about teaching standardsStudent charter setting out consumer rightsWider role for private sector colleges and partnershipsFewer restrictions on "university" titleConsidering options on early loan repaymentsThis proportion of universities bidding for places is "just the start", said Mr Willetts. "We want to extend the system so more places are contestable."

From 2012, universities will be able to compete against each other in bidding for 65,000 places for students achieving AAB grades at A-level or better - rather than simply being allocated quotas, as they are now.

This will mean that universities, if they want to expand, can offer an unlimited number of places to students getting these grades, drawing them away from what might have been a second choice institution.

But this is likely to have only a marginal impact on most universities. According to an analysis by the 1994 Group of universities, the majority of universities have fewer than 5% of students with these grades.

There will also be 20,000 places allocated on the basis of "good quality" and "value for money" at institutions charging an average of?7,500 or less per year.

Since a high proportion of university degree courses are above this level, these places could be taken by an expanded private sector or courses provided through further education colleges.

Sir Steve Smith, president of Universities UK, warned that only allowing universities charging these lower fees to bid for these places "must not undermine the quality of the higher education system".

University title

In terms of improving social mobility, there had been discussion of changing the admissions system to allow applications after students knew their exam results - which previous official reports had recommended as fairer.

But a decision on this - so-called "post qualification application" - will not be considered until a review reports back next year.

The Bridge Group, a think-tank promoting social mobility through higher education, warned the White Paper could have a "negative impact" on social mobility in the long-term.

The White Paper also promises to reduce barriers to private providers entering higher education.

This includes a review of the use of the term "university" as a title.

There will also be an emphasis on improving the information available to students.

Last week the Higher Education Funding Council for England announced that universities would have to publish key information about courses, such as the average salary of former students, the cost of accommodation, teaching hours and satisfaction ratings from previous students.

The funding council will itself have a new role as a "consumer champion" for students.

There will also be plans for inspections to be triggered if there are concerns about the quality of courses or teaching standards.

But students were unimpressed by the plans.

Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students said: "Fees have been tripled and students have been exposed to the potential chaos of the market and yet there are still no concrete proposals for how quality, accountability and access will be improved."

The president of Oxford University Student Union, David Barclay, had earlier said: "Dressing up the White Paper with the language of student choice is like putting lipstick on a pig... Education is not a commodity to be bought and sold."

John Denham, the shadow business secretary, earlier dismissed the government's plan, saying: "It's a shambles, they're making it up as they go along."

He argued that the White Paper was an attempt by the government to get itself "off the hook" after universities set tuition fees at a higher level than expected.

Lecturers also attacked the proposals as an attempt by the government to recover from having lost control of fee levels.

"Trying to force down the cost of a degree after the government got its sums wrong will not solve the funding crisis it created," said Sally Hunt, leader of the University and College Union.

Competition on price will not affect Scottish students in Scotland's universities where there are no tuition fees. In Wales there are plans for Welsh students at Welsh universities to receive a subsidy covering increased tuition fees.

A decision on tuition fees and support for students at Northern Ireland's universities is expected in the autumn.

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Student places 'flea market' fear

12 May 2011 Last updated at 15:27 GMT By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent Pricing and access to places are coming under scrutiny in the shift to a market-based university system Student leaders have warned that cut-price fees to fill empty university places could turn the admissions process into a "flea market".

It follows reports Universities Minister David Willetts had suggested some universities could reduce tuition fees in clearing.

The Office for Fair Access has warned against "unfair" late discounts.

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills says any discount would have to be given to all students.

The department said if any last-minute tuition fee reduction were offered in clearing, it would also have to be retrospectively applied to all students with a place on the same course, to avoid a financial incentive to delay applications.

The forthcoming White Paper on higher education would "include proposals to prevent unfair discounting", the department added.

'Confusing messages'

Mr Willetts had told the Independent newspaper some universities could reduce tuition fees to attract students during clearing, when students who have missed out on A-level grades or who are making late applications are matched up with the vacancies remaining on degree courses.

Most universities in England want to charge the maximum ?9,000 for some or all courses, but the minister's comments suggest this could be revised down if there is a lack of demand for places.

The NUS president, Aaron Porter, said: "Ministers are at risk of turning the university application process into a flea market, exposing students and their families to unnecessary panic and grotesque unfairness.

"Efforts to force an unworkable market on higher education are already backfiring."

Pam Tatlow, chief executive of the Million+ group of new universities, said: "Ministers are giving out confusing messages that fees may change at clearing.

"Of course adjusting prices is common in a market, but universities will be very cautious about adopting this approach which is counter to the guidance issued by the the Office of Fair Access [Offa]."

Offa, the watchdog for fair access to university, has told universities "to bear in mind that discounting late in the application cycle is unfair to applicants who chose not to apply to you on the basis of the fee and support package you advertised earlier".

It added late discounts could work against poorer applicants, who would be more likely to wait for a price cut, with the risk of limited choices and of missing out altogether.

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesman said: "The government agrees with Offa that late discounting, including during clearing, must not lead to unfairness.

"As the Offa guidance makes clear, any late fee discounts or improved financial support would have to be offered to all eligible applicants, including those who already have an offer, so that the system is fair."

Shadow universities minister, Gareth Thomas, said: "This is another back of an envelope policy from David Willetts - students should be able to choose the course which is right for them, not the one that comes at the right price. You can't treat university like a lastminute.com holiday."

The White Paper setting out how this market-based university system will operate is expected next month.

Earlier this week Mr Willetts was embroiled in a row about whether the creation of extra university places, not publicly-funded, could provide a backdoor for wealthy students.

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