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Link:

ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/" target="_self">Information for prospective students

¹û¶³Ó°Ôº President and Provost, Professor Malcolm Grant, said today that ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº intends to continue to place significant reliance upon A-level results in selecting high-quality students for admissions. Over the past year, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº has undertaken a root and branch review of its admissions policies and procedures and it has no plans to introduce a university-wide aptitude test.

Yesterday Sir Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial College, commented to the Independent Schools Conference that A-levels had become almost worthless as a way of discriminating between talented and well-drilled students, and that Imperial College would therefore be introducing an entrance exam for all applicants. The comments have been widely reported in the media, and in light of this, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº wishes to clarify its own position on admissions.

In a keynote speech to the Independent Schools Conference this morning, Professor Grant emphasised that A-level results were not - and never had been - a test applied mechanically by the UK's leading selecting universities. These universities shared a common mission to ensure that the most able and talented candidates could find entry, whatever their social and educational background. Admissions tutors were skilled at reviewing a wide range of factors in making intelligent selection. They were accustomed to taking other qualifications into account, including the International Baccalaureate. In addition, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº was making limited use of focused aptitude tests for entry to Law and Medicine, but was aware that aptitude tests are not a simple panacea and need to be approached with considerable caution.Ìý

Professor Grant added that neither did he perceive that rising standards of performance in A-levels (over 11% of students scored three or more As last year) were making things more difficult. More data was available than simply the headlines scores, including raw marks for component modules, and a number of further changes are being introduced from September this year, including the introduction of an A* grade.

For information about applying to ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, please use the link at the top of the article.