News

Further study needed on how to change Admissions system

(14 September 2004)

The University of Durham today welcomes the increased attention to university admissions with the publication of the Schwartz report but points out that the real test will be in the detail of how to implement a system of applications after A-level results.

Durham looks forward to working with Sir Alan Wilson and his group who will look into those details.

Durham University generally receives about 25,000 applications for 3,500 places, so the admissions process is a considerable undertaking. It takes time to consider applicants as individual people with a range of experiences, achievements, abilities and potential.

It is unlikely that a post-A-level system would reduce the volume of applications, so by making the process more dependent on results, there could actually be less flexibility for encouraging access by people from broader backgrounds.

Durham would also be interested in other possible revisions of the present system, such as extending the use of additional tests to help select between people with equally excellent grades, but these would have to be carefully devised and applied so that they do not simply become another hurdle for applicants.

All these factors would almost certainly mean that school and university terms would need rescheduling, and as higher education is an increasingly international sector, the UK would put itself at a considerable disadvantage in attracting international students, and possibly top-quality staff, if its academic year became too far out of step with everywhere else.