OFT inquiry could cause university admission chaos
Oxford asks most applicants to sit aptitude tests related to their chosen degree subject
Times photographer, David Bebber
1 of 1Oxford asks most applicants to sit aptitude tests related to their chosen degree subject Times photographer, David Bebber
Oxford and Cambridge universities fear that admissions arrangements will “grind to a halt” if the competition watchdog orders changes.
The universities believe that they could be forced to abandon their interviews of applicants and detailed scrutiny of candidates’ exam marks and backgrounds. It follows a preliminary inquiry into university admissions announced last month by the Office of Fair Trading.
The Times has been told that civil servants have been informed by officials that the OFT wants to examine a rule that candidates cannot apply to Oxford and Cambridge to see whether it is anti-competitive. They also want to look at the system of applying for degree courses via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), which restricts applicants to five choices.
The rule that candidates can apply to Oxford or Cambridge but not both, known as the “rule of combination”, was introduced by Ucas in the late 1980s to limit the volume of applications to manageable levels.
A senior administrator at Cambridge said it would be unable to cope if the number of applications doubled and said the same principle applied to medical schools. Candidates applying to study medicine, dentistry or veterinary science are restricted to four choices of medical or dental schools and, as with Oxbridge applications, must apply earlier.
Jon Beard, director of undergraduate recruitment at Cambridge, told a conference yesterday: “We receive 15,000 applications a year, Oxford receives 17,500. In term of interviewing that number of students the process would grind to a halt.
“If our rate of application doubled, it would be very hard to look at the range of data that we currently apply to each application.”
The University of Oxford would not comment but is understood to be preparing a detailed submission to the OFT raising identical concerns.
Cambridge invites around 80 per cent of applicants for one-to-one interviews with academics, whose off-the-wall questions are the stuff of student legend. It also looks at raw marks achieved by candidates in AS levels, the academic performance of their school and a range of other data.
Oxford goes further by asking most applicants to sit aptitude tests related to their chosen degree subject.
Some experts in competition law have suggested that the agreement with Oxford and Cambridge may amount to uncompetitive practice and that university admissions may come under competition law as higher fees could be seen as the sale of services.
However, arrangements deemed to have anti-competitive elements may be justified if they are shown to benefit consumers.
Mr Beard told the conference: “There are similar rules in place for medicine for very, very similar reasons and all students are restricted to five choices. So this rule of combination, although the focus is always on Oxford and Cambridge, actually there are a number of other restrictions in place on students applying to higher education, so if that rule is one that is deemed to be unsuitable it raises issues in relation to the whole process.”
The OFT has invited submissions of evidence by the end of the year and, once it has analysed these, will decide whether to launch a formal investigation
The universities believe that they could be forced to abandon their interviews of applicants and detailed scrutiny of candidates’ exam marks and backgrounds. It follows a preliminary inquiry into university admissions announced last month by the Office of Fair Trading.
The Times has been told that civil servants have been informed by officials that the OFT wants to examine a rule that candidates cannot apply to Oxford and Cambridge to see whether it is anti-competitive. They also want to look at the system of applying for degree courses via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), which restricts applicants to five choices.
The rule that candidates can apply to Oxford or Cambridge but not both, known as the “rule of combination”, was introduced by Ucas in the late 1980s to limit the volume of applications to manageable levels.
A senior administrator at Cambridge said it would be unable to cope if the number of applications doubled and said the same principle applied to medical schools. Candidates applying to study medicine, dentistry or veterinary science are restricted to four choices of medical or dental schools and, as with Oxbridge applications, must apply earlier.
Jon Beard, director of undergraduate recruitment at Cambridge, told a conference yesterday: “We receive 15,000 applications a year, Oxford receives 17,500. In term of interviewing that number of students the process would grind to a halt.
“If our rate of application doubled, it would be very hard to look at the range of data that we currently apply to each application.”
The University of Oxford would not comment but is understood to be preparing a detailed submission to the OFT raising identical concerns.
Cambridge invites around 80 per cent of applicants for one-to-one interviews with academics, whose off-the-wall questions are the stuff of student legend. It also looks at raw marks achieved by candidates in AS levels, the academic performance of their school and a range of other data.
Oxford goes further by asking most applicants to sit aptitude tests related to their chosen degree subject.
Some experts in competition law have suggested that the agreement with Oxford and Cambridge may amount to uncompetitive practice and that university admissions may come under competition law as higher fees could be seen as the sale of services.
However, arrangements deemed to have anti-competitive elements may be justified if they are shown to benefit consumers.
Mr Beard told the conference: “There are similar rules in place for medicine for very, very similar reasons and all students are restricted to five choices. So this rule of combination, although the focus is always on Oxford and Cambridge, actually there are a number of other restrictions in place on students applying to higher education, so if that rule is one that is deemed to be unsuitable it raises issues in relation to the whole process.”
The OFT has invited submissions of evidence by the end of the year and, once it has analysed these, will decide whether to launch a formal investigation
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