11 April 2008
Universities have agreed that they should make public their admissions policies but insist that they retain control over who to admit.
Measures set out by Universities Secretary John Denham this week would require each university to publicise its admissions policy and combine it with its widening participation strategies into a single, publicly accessible document.
Professor Rick Trainor, president of Universities UK, said many universities already publicised their admissions policies. 'We agree with the secretary of state that openness of this kind benefits applicants.
'We hope that a consultation will follow on the proposed single widening participation document. While universities are happy to share information with government and applicants, decisions on admissions are for universities themselves.'
He added that work was already under way to reform the application process to make it more transparent and efficient.
In a speech to the Higher Education Funding Council for England's annual conference on April 8, Denham said universities needed to show they were implementing their admissions policies accurately and fairly in order to boost public confidence in the system.
He said that, while there was no evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with the way universities selected their students, the ongoing media debate about perceived snobbery and social bias in the admissions system was unhelpful.
'Ultimately it feeds the view that “my child is going to lose out no matter how hard they work” – whether that child comes from a disadvantaged background or a privileged one,' Denham said.
'So I think we have to look for confidence-building measures; measures that will reassure the public.'
But he added that it was a 'fundamental principle' that universities decide whom they should admit.
Denham has asked David Eastwood, chief executive of Hefce, and Sir Martin Harris, director of the Office for Fair Access, to look at how each university could become more open and accountable.
Harris said: 'The commitments currently reported on in access agreements are just part of the overall widening participation picture. Institutions also undertake many other initiatives which are not covered by Offa and are currently not captured anywhere.
'A single document will give everyone in the sector a much clearer overview of the fair access story and allow us to recognise institutions' widening participation efforts in full.'
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