UK university admissions system

A fundamental change in the mode of application is due by 2010. How does it impact British curriculum students in the UAE?

The British government recently announced measures to revamp their university admissions system. Under the current system, students are made a conditional offer based on their predicted A-level grades.

The government wants to revise this by getting universities to retain some of the seats for students who apply after receiving their final results.

According to an Evening Standard report: "The move could pave the way for a complete overhaul of the admissions procedure in 2010, which would see all places allocated only after students have received their final results.

"The reforms follow research showing that more than half of predicted grades are wrong, with 36 per cent of predictions too generous and 15 per cent too low.

"Students from poorer backgrounds are most likely to be given the wrong prediction. However, those who do better than expected in their A-levels miss out on the chance to go to a prestigious university because the places have already been allocated."

Considerable debate

The issue has for some time been debated in the UK, with equally strong arguments being presented for and against the current system.

Those against it argue that the new PQA or post-qualification system will level the playing field and give all students an equal chance at getting admission to university, particularly the more prestigious ones.

Others believe the current system can be tweaked to serve the student community better. They believe PQA, if and when implemented, will throw up many other problems that will have a trickle down effect on the education system.

One of them is the very little time to apply and process applications, between the publishing of the A-level results and the start of the academic year.

"Universities will be short of time to process the applications," says Stephanie Evans, UAE education promotion manager, British Council.

"And they are dealing not just with a few, but with applications from all over the world."

Nick Jones, head of Sixth Form at Dubai College, one of Dubai's oldest schools following the British A-level curriculum, says: "In theory, it is a good thing. However, it will have ramifications right across the board. It will mean a lot of reorganisation of the whole education system.

Students will have to take their final exams earlier; exams might have to be brought forward from mid-May to mid-April so that they can be marked earlier."

The results, he added, will have to be published in July rather than mid-August, as is the case right now.

The effects, he says, are also likely to be felt in areas such as picking a hall of residence and student loans. The new system will affect students following the British curriculum in the UAE.

Evans, however, feels the effect won't be that pronounced. "I don't think it will have a major impact," she says. The reason being that students here anyway tend to apply to universities after they get their results. "It's pretty much last-minute," she says.

Jones says his students usually submit their applications by the beginning of November, with those aiming to join Oxford and Cambridge, particularly the medicine programme, applying by October 15.

Students usually apply online through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service or UCAS, which is the central organisation that processes applications for full-time undergraduate courses in the UK. It has two deadlines, October 15 and January 15.

As Evans says, students are usually encouraged to apply well before the January 15 deadline, because by then the applications are more or less full. Through a UCAS application form, students can apply to six universities.

Jones says: "My own recommendation - which I believe will be supported by many - is to reduce the number of university choices students have right now from six to three or four. This will make the application process less complicated."

He also advises students to look at clearing, the process through which an applicant, who hasn't yet secured a place, can apply for the vacancies still available.

The list is usually published in the UK's The Independent newspaper on the day the A-level results come out. Alternatively, students can go online or call up universities individually to find the seats and programmes that are still open.

What universities are saying

"I believe it is proposed to be implemented by 2008. The post-result application to university will in theory push students - from schools that do not traditionally send too many students to university - to apply, if they get good results.

"It will allow more students who end up getting better grades than expected to apply, so it will be more as an encouragement rather than a radical change in the system, just an alteration in per-ception," said Neil Christie, senior international officer from the Student Recruitment and Admissions office of the University of Stirling, Scotland.