Admissions shake-up on the cards
The university hopes state school applicants will not be put offfrom applying by the traditional image of the ‘dreaming spires’
Oxford University could be facing one of the biggest reorganisations of its applications policy in the collegiate system’s 800-year history. Proposals have been put forward which could lead to colleges giving away the freedom to choose their students in favour of a more centralised procedure for selecting undergraduate students.
During the Christmas vacation a ‘discussion paper’, produced by the Working Party on Selection and Admissions, was released by the university, although details of the report were exclusively revealed by The Oxford Student in April last year. The paper’s findings are now under consideration by college governing bodies, who will make recommendations to the Admissions Executive.
The report stated Oxford’s objectives should be to continue to attract applicants “irrespective of socio-economic, ethnic or national origin”. It also said the university should select students on the basis of their academic ability, and “ensure that the prospects of admission are not affected by college choice”. It is hoped that, by ranking applicants centrally, the university will be able to ensure that Oxford selects the most able students.
A university spokesperson denied that the recommendations implicitly condemned the selection process in subjects that do not rank their applicants centrally. “Oxford is working extremely hard to find the best students places. The Working Party found that the current system is working and is fair, but it can be improved.” In its present state there is a great degree of variance in application procedures between different courses.
Colleges are largely autonomous in their selection process in subjects such as English and PPE, while in Biochemistry, Engineering and Materials, central ranking has an input in both shortlisting and selecting students. The Working Party has recommended that all subjects should adopt a uniform model for admissions. Rather than providing a single plan, the paper has suggested two possible models for applications.
The first would involve application decisions being made by tutors acting collectively within subjects to rank the applicants centrally, which would be the basis for offering a place. Only after receiving an offer would an applicant be able to specify their college of preference. Colleges would then use the collated data to select students. The second suggested model would involve candidates continuing to state their college of preference at the time of application.
There would be a central ranking of candidates in all subjects, but colleges would not be bound by the rankings. Chair of the Working Party Sir Tim Lankester was keen to emphasise that there was more to the report than simply unifying admissions. “The recommendations include specifying that all applicants are interviewed by two colleges and a greater use of written tests,” he told The Oxford Student.
Proponents of reform have admitted that any changes are likely to be met with a large amount of resistance. Gavin Williams, St Peter’s PPE tutor and Chairman of the Academic Subcommittee of the Conference of Colleges, said, “We need to rethink how we do our admissions. However, I am not sure if it is possible to establish a standardised admissions system to meet the requirements of such disparate courses as Medicine, PPE, English, Languages, and Art History.
Furthermore, despite hopes that the changes to Oxford’s admissions system would help to ease college inequality, some fear they will instead compound differences between colleges. A senior Oxford academic told The Oxford Student, “College tutors have expressed doubts that the proposals would benefit poorer colleges because students knowing that they already have a university place will naturally give first preference to colleges that are better appointed.
However, the university does not regard college inequality as within the remit of admissions reform. “That is a different issue which needs to be addressed by the colleges,” a university spokesperson said. The report suggests standardising admissions will make applying to Oxford a less daunting prospect, particularly for those from state schools without a history of sending students to the university.
David Johnston, co-ordinator of the Oxford Access Scheme, said, “These proposed changes could really help. A lot of students from state schools find the idea of choosing a college and the complications of Oxford applications confusing. Hopefully it will also help to eliminate the accusations of bias against state school pupils.
In April last year The Oxford Student reported that the Working Party’s discussion paper had been put on hold due to the possibility of a nationwide change to post-A-level application. The report acknowledged this change would make much of the plan obsolete. Despite the detailed plans in the discussion paper, actual change in policy is still a considerable way off.
Formal recommendations have yet to be produced, and they would then have to pass through several committees and the University Council. It is unlikely any new policy will be implemented until at least 2008.
12th Jan 2005