University offers should look at students’ backgrounds, not just A-level grades, says watchdog

Universities should take the backgrounds of prospective students into account when awarding places, the new higher education watchdog has urged.

The context in which A-level grades have been achieved must be looked at to boost the numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds attending university, the Office for Students has said.

The call comes as a report from the Fair Education Alliance (FEA) campaign group urges universities to be more transparent about how they use the background of applicants when making offers.

Many UK universities already use some form of contextual data – including where a student went to school, their socio-economic background and where they live - in their decision-making process.

But Chris Millward, the Office for Students' (OfS) director for fair access and participation, has called for a more “ambitious approach” to contextual admissions to improve "equality of opportunity".

He said: “A-level grades can only be considered to be a robust measure of potential if they are considered alongside the context in which they are achieved.

"I do not believe that the inequality of access we see currently can reflect a lack of potential, and promoting equality of opportunity must be concerned with unlocking potential for students from all backgrounds.”

The most selective universities – including Oxford and Cambridge - have faced criticism for recruiting too few applicants from ethnic minorities and disadvantaged backgrounds in recent months.

The report reveals that in 2016, just three per cent of University of Cambridge entrants were from 'low participation neighbourhoods' - areas of the UK with few young people going to university.

And the chair of the OfS has said the regulator can prevent universities charging the full tuition fees of £9,250 if it judges that they are not doing enough to widen access.

The report from FEA has called on the OfS to require universities to publicise the contextual data they use in admissions by including it on the UCAS application page for each course.

Mr Millward said: "We are a long way from equality of opportunity in relation to access to higher education. So in the coming years, I will be expecting universities and colleges to set more ambitious targets in their access and participation plans to narrow the gaps.

"This will include measures to increase the pool of applicants with the high levels of attainment needed to enter many universities. But if we wait the years this will take to achieve, we will fail the next generation of students."

Sam Butters, FEA chief, said: "We want to see change in widening participation within the most selective universities.

"We know that parents' income, the quality of school attended and a myriad of other background factors affect educational outcomes for young people, including how well they do in their exams and their likelihood of progressing to higher education.

"Contextualised admissions are a way of overcoming this challenge and recognising the additional barriers disadvantaged young people face, but we need some changes to how the practice is being used for it to be effective."

The FEA report also calls for universities to publish details of their annual student intakes.

Sarah Stevens, head of policy at the Russell Group, which represents 24 selective universities, said all of its universities used "contextual data" in some form.

She said: "Qualifications and predicted grades are a key indicator of academic ability, but universities take a range of other factors into account to understand the applicant's achievements in context.

"This includes the school or college attended, where a student grew up, whether they are a care leaver, or whether they are the first in their family to enter higher education.

Chris Hale, director of policy at Universities UK, said: "Many universities have always used contextual information to help identify an applicant's potential, which cannot always be determined from entry grades alone.

"Our advisory group on social mobility also recommended that universities should continue to consider a range of factors alongside applicants' entry grades.

"Universities need a range of ways to identify disadvantage. At the moment, universities can look at relevant data from a number of sources, but there can be inconsistency in what is used. Improved data would inform their approach to contextualised admissions."