MEMORANDUM FROM DR PHILIP EVANS AND MRS
SUE FISHBURN (HE 52)
The independent sector believes that admission
to university courses should be based on merit, as demonstrated
by examination results and, where appropriate, interview and other
selection procedures. The sector recognises that while many offers
of a university place are given on the basis of the UCAS (university
application form) alone, the selecting universities, particularly
in high demand courses such as medicine, will need to use additional
methods, such as interview. There should be no government interference
in the right of universities to select such pupils.
Much has been made of the fact that, while the
independent sector educates only about 7 per cent of the school
population in this country, independent school pupils account
for a much higher percentage of university students in the selecting
universities, such as Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and Bristol.
In making such a comparison, a more relevant figure is the percentage
of independent school pupils aged between16-18, since it is this
cohort which is moving towards higher education: here the figure
is above 20 per cent. If the percentage is quoted for those with
30 or more UCAS points, the figure is above 30 per cent.
However, recently analysed data show an even
starker picture. A Government publication in 1994 found the more
difficult A-level subjects, in the various categories, to be physics,
chemistry and mathematics; economics; history; and modern languages
(French). Here the appropriate percentages for the independent
sector are as follows (data are 1999 entries):
| Subject | per cent of overall entries
| per cent of A grades |
| physics | 26.7 | 41.6
|
| chemistry | 29.9 | 45.4
|
| mathematics | 28.4 | 40.5
|
| economics | 30.9 | 47.3
|
| history | 24.7 | 41.2
|
| French | 35.6 | 51.9
|
These subjects are the ones needed for studying the sciences,
medicine, mathematics, engineering, economics (plus related disciplines),
history and modern languages. These are large demand subjects
at the selecting universities.
If A-level is still to be regarded as the "gold standard"
post-16 qualification, then it is illogical not to regard the
results of such examinations as the main, if not the only, selection
criterion. The role of the new "Vocational A-levels",
formerly GNVQ, and now graded on an A to E, must be examined carefully
in the selection process in future since equivalence between A-level
and Vocational A-level has never been formally established.
If the government is genuinely committed to increasing access
to the selecting universities, then it is regrettable that it
has introduced tuition fees. These do, and will increasingly do
so in the future, act as a disincentive to those from a more restricted
financial background. Funding policy is acting against attempts
to widen access.
The independent sector would welcome increased direct competition
for places at the selecting universities, if this originated from
a genuine increase in standards in national examinations and increased
aspirations of pupils from the maintained sector.
Selection processes, however, must be transparent, meritocratic
and free from government interference.
Dr Philip Evans and Mrs Sue Fishburn,
Independent Schools' Council
July 2000
|
