Headteachers back plans to base university applications on actual grades, saying the issue has been in the ‘too difficult drawer’ long enough
Headteachers have welcomed plans to change university admissions so students apply after receiving their results, Schools Week reports.
Admissions service UCAS said it is due to publish two “radical new options” to overhaul admissions including a “post-qualification application” system, which would delay the start of term until January.
The other “post-qualification offer” option, would mean pupils continue to apply ahead of results day, but only receive their offers once their grades are known.
Both models mean universities make decisions about students are based on real rather than predicted data.
Writing in The Times, Jon Cope, director of strategy, policy and public affairs at UCAS, said allowing students to apply after receiving their grades would cause “some serious headaches” with the January start.
But he suggested the problem could be mitigated by offering paid government traineeships or a national citizen service programme.
Headteachers’ union ASCL has backed the post-qualification application option, with general secretary Geoff Barton saying the issue had been “put in the too-difficult drawer for too long”.
Ucas will lay out details of the two models in the coming weeks, Jon Cope wrote.