Sunday 18 March 2007

New info for universities

Getting a degree is an challenging academic experience. To make sure that you can meet the standards, you must be able to reach certain academic targets. If you don't meet them, then you don't get into university - it should be as simple as that. Well, that's the theoretical view - problems with money can get in the way, but most cases where students do get are related to previous academic or professional achievement.

However, to get into universities in 2008, there will be an extra hurdle to go over:

"The admissions service, UCAS, also says its form for 2008 entry will ask applicants about their ethnicity and whether they have been in council care."

In the same BBC News article, it mentions that "vice-chancellors and ministers believe it helps widen participation". The president of Universities UK - a group comprising of university vice-chancellors says:

"All Universities UK members place a high priority on widening participation. It is therefore useful for a university to have at its disposal a wide range of information to build up a full and rounded view of an applicant. It allows institutions to understand more about how the applicant got to where they are, and their potential."

Why should a potential student's non-academic background have a bearing on admissions though? You shouldn't be given an unfair advantage if you're poorer than someone else - that's a form of discrimination. Jonathan Shepard, of the Independent Schools Council thinks the same way:

"...this information is of no relevance to admissions tutors - who are looking at candidates, not at parents - and should not be disclosed to universities..."

Wes Streeting, the Vice-President (Education) for the National Union of Students believes that it is a "knee-jerk reaction" to call this "social engineering" and "positive discrimination". Mike Baker, education correspondent for BBC News believes that statements made by the media are hyperbole. In this article, he creates a scenario where a student is picked solely because they are an ethnic minority and the parents left education at 16.

The scenario is unrealistic - even I agree with that. However, there is the possibility that there could be two students of equal academic merit and one place remaining on a course. If that were the case, one could get in ahead of another because they have high acadmeic standards and their parents left education at 16. That is more believable and worrying. Is it right that the decision should be made like that? I don't think so.

Trust is an issue here and in most cases, the scenario I illustrated above might not happen. However, if the possibility is there it could happen somewhere.

There are some universities who believe this is a bad thing though. 8 of the 20 Russell Group members questioned or condemned the moves (Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial College London, Nottingham and University College London). In this Daily Telegraph article, the following is mentioned:

"Imperial College, London, said it ran a number of activities to help persuade pupils to go on to study science, technology and medicine.

"However, academic merit must be the main criterion," said a spokesman"

I think it's bad and so do other people, including some heavyweights in the education sector. However, some people thinks it will help the widening participation initiative and the opinions expressed by some sections of the media are hyperbole. What do you think?

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