Government review of unconditional university offers “perfect opportunity” for radical overhaul says UCU

Responding to calls today (Friday) from education secretary Damian Hinds for a review of university admissions, following controversy over the use of unconditional offers, the University and College Union (UCU) said the review was a perfect opportunity to look at a radical overhaul of how and when students apply to university.

UCU favours a system where students apply to university after they have received their results. The union said moving to a post-qualifications admissions system would remove the need for unconditional offers and bring the whole of the UK in line with the rest of the world.

UCU acting general secretary Paul Cottrell said: ‘We are pleased the minister is looking seriously at the use and abuse of unconditional offers. Unconditional offers put too much pressure on young people to make a snap decision about their future and are symptomatic of a broken admissions system where offers are made using predicted grades rather than actual results.

‘Instead of tinkering around the edges, this review is the perfect opportunity for an overhaul of the system so university offers are based on actual achievements instead on guesswork. Shifting to a system where students apply to university after they receive their grades would make unconditional offers redundant and bring us in line with the rest of the world.’