Opinion: After Clearing, entry grades tell us less than ever – what matters now is how students are supported to succeed

Universities traditionally known for their high tariffs recruited around 50% more UK students this autumn than at the start of the decade, with many lowering their A-level grade requirements. Professor Ian Dunn, Provost of Coventry University Group, argues that the focus should now move from the grades students arrive with to the support that helps them succeed.

The financial crisis in Higher Education is forcing many universities to make decisions that were not part of their thinking a few years ago – and the ramifications have yet to be fully realised.

The sector is adapting to a present and future with far fewer of the international students whose tuition fees have been helping balance the books at many institutions.

Courses, departments and even campuses have been closing with increasing frequency around the country, impacting students, colleagues and the economic health of their communities.

But perhaps the most significant impact is that there are no longer high-tariff universities – only high-tariff courses.

Universities once known for demanding the highest A-Level grades have been reducing their entry requirements on many courses – in some cases substantially – in a bid to recruit more domestic students to protect their income and help to offset shortfalls in international student revenue.

These universities are no more immune to the financial storm than the rest of the sector, unless they are among the few with large endowments. As more of their courses appear in Clearing, accepting grades well below those they asked for only a few years ago, it is worth asking what this change means for the students they now admit.

What is best for the student?

Let me be clear: if a student is admitted to a university on grades that they would not have accepted a few years ago and goes on to thrive there, that is something to celebrate. Wider access is good for social mobility but differing entry requirements have always reflected the fact that there cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach to higher education.

I am not arguing for students to ‘know their place’ – far from it. I passionately believe in the transformational power of quality education and social mobility is vital for our society, but students need an educational environment that enables and empowers them to embrace that opportunity.

Many students will thrive at an institution their grades would not have allowed them to enter six years ago, but it would be naïve to assume that will be true for every one of them.

Students arrive with different levels of prior educational attainment, experiences and backgrounds, which is exactly why high and lower-tariff universities have developed different teaching environments, curricula and support systems to cater to the needs of the students they serve.

Tailoring support and learning environments for students from all walks of life

Entry grades have never been the whole story. What matters just as much is the teaching and support a student finds once they arrive.

Evidence shows that students from disadvantaged backgrounds can have fewer opportunities to develop certain academic knowledge and skills before entering higher education, making it critical for the universities admitting these students to support and help bridge those gaps.

For us, this has meant providing a broad range of support services including academic writing, maths and statistics help, success coaches, skills and knowledge development and careers support because we want to give our students every opportunity to fulfil their full potential, so that their A-level results are a starting point, not a ceiling.

Universities that have long recruited students from a broad range of backgrounds have spent years building exactly this kind of support. For many students, choosing a university designed around how they learn – where they are known as individuals and helped to succeed – will be the surest route to a good degree and a rewarding career, wherever that university sits in the league tables.

The wider picture

The shift is also changing where students choose to study, concentrating growth in some university towns and cities while leaving others with fewer students – and that matters well beyond the campus.

Universities are indispensable to their regions, with ones like Coventry providing the professional, vocational and technical education that employers need and want, alongside a deeper economic impact of employment, knowledge transfer and the spending power of its student population.

If Prime Minister Andy Burnham is to deliver the “growth in every postcode” that he desires, the government must be mindful of the economic impact of higher education across the country.

Perhaps the real challenge and necessity is to bring further and higher education closer together, breaking down historical barriers so that education and skills can better drive economic growth and productivity in every single region.