School Gate: Will we have a British Ivy League?

Students who do better than expected in their A levels will be given five days to trade up to a better university from next year.

The reform will provide a vital second chance for pupils whose teachers have wrongly underestimated their A level grades or who were not confident enough of their own academic abilities to apply for an elite university, where entry requirements are high.

The change, to be introduced from August 2009, was ordered by the government amid concern that some applicants were not applying to institutions with high entry requirements that they would otherwise have like to apply to.

It follows research from the Sutton Trust educational charity, which suggested that half of state school teachers would never or only rarely encourage their brightest pupils to apply to Oxbridge - in part because they underestimated the chance of state students in gaining a place.

Most applicants for undergraduate courses receive offers of university places conditional on the achievement of specified grades at A Level.

The applicant’s school or college must give the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) a prediction of the grades they think each individual student will achieve. But research undertaken by UCAS for the government has shown that predicted grades are accurate less than half the time.

Incorrect predicted grades are usually within plus or minus one grade of the actual grade achieved. But nearly ten per cent of them underestimate the student’s eventual performance and there is at present no mechanism for them to upgrade to a more demanding course or institution.

Under the changes, outlined today in a report from Universities UK, representing vice chancellors, sixth-formers who get better A level grades than their teachers predicted will be able to hold their original university offer, while they apply to one with higher requirements.

Although the likely numbers affected will be relatively small compared to the 500,000 or so applying annually through UCAS, it is still significant. UUK said numbers could be in the low thousands or several hundred.

The alternative solution of reforming the entire university admissions system so that places are not allocated until after A level grades are received is discussed by the report as a possibility, but not one that could be introduced for several years.

In the meantime, a five-day adjustment period in August has been agreed. Applicants in such cases will have five calendar days from the date of receiving their A level results to look for an alternative course that has places available whilst still holding their original choice.

A spokesman for UUK said the system was not intended to be used lightly by students who just felt like having a crack at a better university, and stressed that students would only be able to a course with tougher entry requirements if there were still places available.

“Applicants will need to be well advised to ensure that they are aware of the usual levels of qualification required for entry to their new chosen course and of the actual intake levels,” he said.

The change is part of a rolling programme changes to the university admissions system, designed to encourage more applications from students from disadvantaged background and outlined today by UUK.

The report found that the use of university entrance tests, in preference to A level results, has now spread to 14 per cent of universities. Traditionally such tests have been used to identify able applicants on high demand courses, especially those related to entry to a profession, such as medicine, dentistry and veterinary studies.

The report found, however, that their use is no longer limited to high demand courses. The finding follows news last month that Imperial College, London is to introduce an entrance exam for all students applying to study there from 2010 because it believes that A levels no longer provide it with a viable way to select the best students.

Work on a generic university entrance exam is on-going. UUK admits that such tests might be useful, but warns that they could deter students who can not afford test fees.

“Another concern is that tests could give rise to an undesirable (and profitable) industry that would provide coaching for those who could afford it,” it says.

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