Cap on university admissions lifted as government U-turns on exam results

Universities will not be fined for going over a cap on places they can offer this year.

Normally there is a limit on the number of places they can offer, but this afternoon Gavin Williamson said this would be lifted.

The Education Secretary said: ‘They won’t be fined and we’re removing those caps on every single university in the United Kingdom, so that they have the ability to expand the number of places, welcoming more students into those universities, as many as possible.’

It comes as the government announced a major U-turn on how exam grades were awarded this year.

With students unable to sit their A-levels and GCSEs due to the coronavirus pandemic, they had been given their marks based on an algorithm which downgraded almost 40% of A-level results in England. It led to people missing university offers and was criticised for disproportionately affecting schools that had historically performed less well.

The regulator Ofqual apologised for the distress today, announcing that pupils would now be given the grades their teachers had assessed them as performing at, unless their grades had been increased by the algorithm in which case they would be allowed to stand.

But it raised issues for universities, who may have over-offered and faced a cap on how many students they could admit.

Universities in England were only allowed to recruit 5% more UK students than their targets this year to prevent institutions from over-recruiting to make up for lost revenue as a result of Covid-19.

But Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), said the measure ‘blocks’ students from attending the universities they wish to study at.

He said before the new announcement: ‘The student number cap should never have been imposed so, yes, it should certainly be lifted now.

‘Some people think that would mean forcing universities to take people they don’t want to but that is not so, autonomy on admissions would still apply.

‘Student number caps are never a sensible idea because they block students from attending the institutions they want to and which want to accept them, but they are a terrible idea when everything is up in the air.’

Despite the cap being lifted, universities still face turmoil as they struggle to work out how many students they can admit, especially with new coronavirus regulations in place.

Some students will already have accepted places which were not their first choice and find themselves in a difficult situation of what to do now.

Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said: ‘Today’s policy change will mean that more students will have the grades that match the offer of their first choice university. This will cause challenges at this late stage in the admissions process – capacity, staffing, placements and facilities – particularly with the social distance measures in place.

‘Universities will do everything they can to work through these issues in the days ahead. The Government will need to step up and support universities through the challenges created by this late policy change. We are seeking urgent clarification and advice from Government on a number of crucial issues.

‘Almost 70% of students are already placed with their first-choice institution, but those who are not should think carefully about their next steps, speak to their parents, guardians and teachers and get into contact with their preferred university to advise on their options.’

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