Some top British universities have been accused of operating secret waiting lists to encourage school leavers to accept their offers amid uncertainty over A-level results.
According to The Guardian, a senior figure in national university admissions said some of the most competitive universities are managing the uncertainty with informal waiting lists, in which they contact individual applicants outside the formal admissions process to tell them they may be accepted regardless of their grades if places remain – making those students less likely to accept places at other institutions.
Mark Corver, an admissions expert and founder of DataHE, said his modelling predicts an additional 50,000 school leavers will accept undergraduate places for the 2021-22 academic year, on top of the record-breaking 371,000 young British students accepted last year
Last year so many students accepted places at popular universities that several were forced to ask students to defer for a year.
Head teachers reported that Russell Group universities held back on making offers to sixth formers after 6 January, when the government announced that this year’s exams would be scrapped, and have only recently restarted making offers.
The University of Sheffield said they have not needed to introduce waiting lists to manage their admissions approach and remain committed to principles of fair admissions to ensure access to higher education is widened and to ensure all students have the potential to succeed on their chosen course.
A spokesperson for the university said:
“At the University of Sheffield, we know that applicants have faced almost a year of disruption to their studies because of school closures and whole year groups being placed in isolation and so we are keen to ensure that students are not unfairly disadvantaged by the pandemic and changes to assessments.
The University has said they are working hard to ensure they’re able to make robust but fair decisions so that those who apply to study, including those from widening participation backgrounds, have the best chance of achieving their goal.
“Last year we worked closely with departments to manage the number of students we recruited per course, and despite the flexibility needed due to national changes in admissions policy, were able to ensure a balanced intake to the University.
“The earlier release of results this year will also help us support department colleagues as they plan for our new intake, which we hope will allow us to welcome the anticipated number of new students onto our courses in September as planned.”
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