Getting into Varsity: Comparability, Convergence and Congruence ...

by the inaccurate predictions. But if the applicant accepts offers requiring the grades predicted and then fails to achieve them, he or she will likely need to enter the Clearing system. No applicant benefits from the overestimation of predicted grades. Those applicants whose grades are underestimated are less likely to enter Clearing, as they will attain higher grades than their offers stipulate, but their choice of courses and the likelihood of being offered a place in any given course would have been unfairly diminished. The greater likelihood of this happening to applicants from lower socioeconomic groups is a double disadvantage when their background already places them at a disadvantage compared with their peers in higher socioeconomic groups.

In 1995, a review led by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (now ‘Universities UK’) recommended the introduction of a post-qualifications applications system (PQA), but this proposal was rejected at the consultation stage. Then in 2004, the Admissions to Higher Education Steering Group supported a move to PQA. They cited growing support for PQA from a number of organisations ranging from the Secondary Heads Association (now the Association of School and College Leaders) and the Girls’ Day School Trust (the largest group of independent schools in the United Kingdom) to many universities and colleges. Responding to the outcome of a public consultation exercise, Ministers in 2006 called for a number of changes to improve the existing arrangements for applications, including the introduction of a PQA system by 2012, improving the match between students and higher education places by making available better information both for and about applicants, reducing the numbers who need to go into Clearing by ensuring that more students have conditional offers before they receive their exam results and enabling students who do better than required by their conditional offer to have a chance to seek an alternative place commensurate with their attainment.

Another issue relating to the selection of applicants for higher education that has attracted considerable political and media attention is the complaint by institutions with oversubscribed courses and high entry requirements that they are unable to discriminate between applicants on the basis of A-Level results. This has led to an increase—although