UCAS failures pile on pressure
Staff across Oxford’s admissions departments have been forced to work hundreds of hours of overtime in order to clear an applications backlog. The backlog was created by flaws in the new electronic application system installed by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).
Helen Carasso, Acting Head of Undergraduate Admissions, told The Oxford Student that the delays had meant her staff, college admissions staff and those in each of the 50 undergraduate departments, had been, “working above and beyond normal office hours,” as well as over weekends. The problem has affected several institutions which have a UCAS deadline of 15th October.
The Oxford Student understands that meetings have already taken place between the 19 senior tutors of the elite Russell Group of universities and that the group plan to make a collective complaint to UCAS. An Oxford University spokeswoman said: “Oxford experienced an initial delay in receiving some applicant data from UCAS ...
there was a delay of several days before work could get underway” Oxford’s Oracle Student System and a number of other universities’ electronic data retention systems were incompatible with UCAS’ new electronic system. Carasso reiterated, “the most important thing is that we adhere to the published schedule that candidates are expecting,” adding that she believed the backlog would be cleared in time.
10th Nov 2005