Due to the increase in the numbers of students wanting to go to university it seems that some universities are putting into place various ways of weeding out numbers from over-subscribed courses. One university is actually picking students by random from those who meet the grade requirements. There’s also talk of introducing an A+ grade to live alongside the traditional gradings of ‘A’ levels in England and Wales.

It has been a long standing objective of the current government to increase the range of students that attend university, with more coming from poorer backgrounds. The trouble with the introduction of an A+ grade is that it is estimated that there will be six times as many students from independent schools who achieve this qualification, compared to those from comprehensive schools. This is all of course down to a lack of funding for further education. Increased funding would allow for larger yearly intakes, thus the current entrance requirements could be sustained.

But it looks like additional funding is not going to be forthcoming. The introduction of (post-graduation) tuition fees only makes tiny inroads into the total funding required to fulfill the government’s targets. So there seems to be a lack of joined-up thinking on tertiary education. On one hand the government wants more people to attend university; on the other hand there isn’t the funding to permit this. Sandwiched in between are the universities who have to find their own ways of getting additional funds or they have to be more choosy on who to accept on courses. The latter of course flies in the face of the government’s objectives for getting more people to university.