School Gate blog: so this is what Oxbridge has been waiting for!

Oxford and Cambridge have decided to consider candidates with diplomas, the first time the elite universities have accepted students from a vocational rather than purely academic background.

The Government welcomed the high-profile endorsement for the new work-based qualification, which it hopes will render A levels redundant, and said it would boost the Oxbridge’s renown.

Jim Knight, Schools Minister, said: "Over the next decade I have no doubt that Diplomas will help Oxford and Cambridge cement their reputation as genuinely world class universities.”

Oxbridge will take applications from students with a diploma in engineering from September 2009.

But the universities, which consistently come top of national league tables, said they would not accept students who come with other diplomas such as Hair and Beauty, IT and Hospitality.

Education experts only last year produced a withering report on the new qualifications and said they were the poor relation of A levels and would be regarded as second rate by teachers and universities. The Nuffield Review, produced by academics from the University of Oxford’s department of education and London University, said the first 14 diplomas were "the latest in a long line of broad vocational qualifications occupying the ground between academic qualifications and apprenticeship" and would "suffer in the shadow of A levels".

The advanced diploma is worth 3.5 A levels and candidates applying for an undergraduate degree in engineering at Oxford or Cambridge must also take Physics and Maths for engineering as part of their diploma course.

Geoff Parks, director of admissions for the Cambridge colleges, who helped design the engineering diploma, said the university was considering each of the new diplomas on a case by case basis. “Of the first five diplomas only the engineering one lines up with any of the courses that we offer,” he said.

The University of Oxford is advising the Government on the development of the next set of diplomas – including Science and languages - and is considering whether to accept candidates with these qualifications.

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