Recruitment rush in Britain's top universities may dilute quality

There is no doubt that some of Britain’s top universities are lowering their entry requirements as part of the mad scramble to snap up as many students as possible.

Leave Oxford and Cambridge out of it. Neither is joining the race. They want to keep their universities the same size as it’s the best guarantee that they will continue to maintain their high standards.

It is those universities that are just below the very top tier that are downgrading their offer. At Wednesday's conference at Wellington College, Professor Michael Arthur, provost of University College London, revealed his institution had dropped entry requirements by one grade in 9 per cent of cases.

The very fact that Oxford and Cambridge believe they have to stay the same size to maintain standards tends to lend credence to claims that expanding student numbers and dumbing down entry requirements will lead to a reduction in the quality of what is on offer.

We do not know the real impact yet. That will become apparent when we see the next set of dropout figures. If there is an increase, it may mean that some of our most prestigious institutions have been taking on students who are struggling to keep up with the demands of high-level courses. What may be more relevant, though, is whether today’s students are being signed up for the right kind of courses. Figures from the Higher Education Policy Institute show that one in three students (34 per cent) would have chosen a different course had they known what they know now a year after signing on. The figures have increased since the introduction of fees of £9,000 a year.

It is obvious why universities have jumped on the bandwagon of increasing student numbers: more students equal more fees. However, it would be good if universities were instead to devote more money to devising courses with higher-level skills in subjects such as engineering which the country needs to meet the demands of the future.