Admissions Procedures Bypassed
Oxford colleges have bypassed admissions procedures and accepted candidates who have been rejected by other colleges after being informally contacted by the applicants themselves. The disclosure, contained in documents obtained by The Oxford Student under the Freedom of Information Act, comes in advice issued to admissions tutors by the Oxford Colleges Admission Office in November 2004.
The advice reads: “In particular in recent years there have been examples of AAA candidates not being invited to interview by their college of preference but through candidates themselves contacting other colleges they have been offered interviews elsewhere.”
A spokeswoman for the university accepted that this procedure was intolerable, telling The Oxford Student: “Not only has it been made clear that this practice is not appropriate, a number of systems have been adopted to ensure that it does not happen in the future.” The centralised admissions system currently being considered by the university, revealed today by The Oxford Student will ensure that further safeguards are put in place to prevent colleges accepting ad hoc applications.
The university refused to reveal which colleges had been identified as having interviewed and accepted desummoned applicants. The guidance was issued as part of a document which highlighted some of the failings of the admissions system. Jane Minto, Director of the Admissions Office, who wrote the advice stressed that, “every effort should be made to ensure they [candidates predicted AAB or better] are seen, either by their college of preference or lower choice colleges”.
28th Apr 2005