Is it time to end university offers based on predicted grades?
Labour is calling for drastic overhaul of current system
![angela-rayner.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aRKaMdELWvE8PMLySHSYCc-415-80.jpg)
Labour has pledged to scrap the system of offering university places based on predicted grades, in order to avoid discrimination against disadvantaged pupils.
Instead, the party would introduce a post-qualifications admissions (PQA) system in which students would apply to university courses after receiving their final A-level marks, reports the BBC.
The plan was announced by shadow education secretary Angela Rayner as more than 300,000 school-leavers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland awaited the results of their A-levels and other qualifications this week.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Rayner argues that the current admissions system is “deeply unfair” and “isn’t working for students”, adding: “Radical action is needed to change that.”
A PQA system would also see the end of unconditional offers, where students are offered a guaranteed university place based on predicted grades, regardless of their eventual exam results. Two in five students received unconditional offers in 2019, reports The Independent.
Labour says that teachers’ predicted grades are wrong “in the vast majority of cases” and that disadvantaged students and those from minority backgrounds have “lost out on opportunities on the basis of those inaccurate predictions”.
Those claims are backed up by figures from The Sutton Trust. The social mobility charity says that “research has found that high-attaining disadvantaged students are more likely to have their grades under-predicted than their better-off peers”.
A 2011 study by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills found that the rate of correct A-level predictions was lowest among black students, at 39.1%, while white students had the highest grade prediction accuracy, at 53%.
Overall, 51.7% of A-level predictions were correct.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, says that Labour’s proposed reforms would help “level the playing field for students, remove the problems associated with unconditional offers and end the chaotic clearing scramble”.
But Clare Marchant, chief executive of university admissions service Ucas, says research has shown that a PQA system could “significantly disadvantage” both disabled students and those from minority backgrounds, reports Sky News.
“Universities and colleges need time for interviews, auditions and considering contextual information about applicants, and time to put in place support services to help care leavers, first in family and disabled students transition into higher education,” she argues.
Ucas figures show that under the current system, about 78% of applicants receive their first choice of university or college, regardless of their background.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told the BBC that reforming the system would “represent a significant and complex change”.
“It would be extremely difficult to manage the entire applications process in the few weeks between A-level results in mid-August and the beginning of university terms in September or October, and it is likely that we would need to rethink the entire calendar.”
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Red Speedo: a 'darkly comic' doping drama
The Week Recommends Lucas Hnath's play stars Finn Cole as a 'reptilian' swimmer determined to win at all costs
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
One Aldwych: where London's creative spirit takes centre stage
The Week Recommends This five-star Covent Garden hotel is the epitome of elegant independence
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Charlotte Dujardin and equestrianism's dark side
In the Spotlight Olympic gold medallist and dressage star's suspension over horse whipping brings abuse in horse sports back into the spotlight
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
UK universities: why higher education is in crisis
The Explainer A combination of spiralling costs and fewer international students is leaving universities in serious financial trouble
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
USC under fire for canceling valedictorian speech
Speed Read Citing safety concerns, the university canceled a pro-Palestinian student's speech
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
FBI arrests Cornell student for allegedly threatening to rape and murder Jews
Speed Read The junior engineering student reportedly confessed to posting the vile messages to a Greek life online forum
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Can British universities keep up with global rivals?
Today's big question UK is losing ground to competitors, with China edging up the rankings
By Felicity Capon Published
-
Pros and cons of the International Baccalaureate
Pros and Cons IB offers a more holistic education and international outlook but puts specialists looking to study in the UK at a disadvantage
By The Week Staff Published
-
The class of ‘23: worst off school-leavers yet?
Talking Point The generation who lost critical months of schooling and weren’t able to sit their GCSEs now approaching a dysfunctional university
By The Week Staff Published
-
The UK students taking on universities over Covid disruption
feature Claimants say they received poor service and felt like ‘lowest form of life in food chain’
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
University life in the UK and US compared
feature Studying in the UK offers proximity to home, while US institutions tend to offer broader curriculum options
By The Week Staff Published