New university funding proposals to create UK ‘Ivy League’

A government white paper, recently reported by _The Sunday Times_, has revealed plans for new university funding proposals which takes the A2 grades of university applicants into account.

The new legislations would mean that top-ranking universities such as Warwick would be afforded different admissions quotas, essentially freeing them to recruit more high-achieving students than others.

University places that require an A-level score of AAB or higher will be taken out of the governments’ funded quota of places at each institution and will therefore allow Universities to expand places on courses that require AAB and above and receive the funding to do so.

However, not all of the Russell Group are in this position; only nine of the top universities are, of which Warwick is one. In turn, this would establish an equivalent to the United States’ Ivy League; an elite group of universities offering the most prestigious educations to the very best students. Universities that are not part of this group who have lower standards of application such as Liverpool and Essex will be pushed further down the league tables.

The findings reveal that roughly 40 percent of the 56,000 students achieving grades of AAB or greater are already concentrated in nine universities, including Warwick. Furthermore, these universities were shown to accept around 60 percent of applicants with these grades. The new scheme would allow certain universities to push these margins even further, so that they could admit even more top level students.

This news has been considered by some as a direct endorsement of Warwick’s quality and its ability to compete with much longer-established universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. The University of Warwick’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nigel Thrift, commented, “This new table is further confirmation that Warwick is considered as part of a UK university ‘Ivy League’ that
attracts the very brightest students and staff.”

However, there are also those who consider the new rankings as a calculated political manoeuvre by the Coalition government, intended to increase to concentration of high-grade students in top universities. This would consequently starve middle-ranking universities of such applicants, potentially forcing them to lower their tuition fees to attract prospective students.

The government currently faces a situation where almost all UK universities have decided to adopt the full £9,000 per year fee which, while financially beneficial in the long run, necessitates the provision of equally inflated student loans to cover the cost, putting further strain on the taxpayer. This begs many to ask the question of whether the new ranking system represents a genuine intent to benefit students, or a reductive reaction to ill-considered policy. Similarly, there is also the matter of whether Warwick would be so supportive of the new rankings were it to fall outside of the ‘Ivy League’ and be faced with fewer high-achieving applicants.

Others have also taken issue with such measures. Sir Steve Smith, President of Universities UK and Vice-Chancellor of Exeter points out the “clear conflict” with the high-grades policy and governmental attempts to promote social mobility. In fact, this could actively limit student potential, encouraging a system of ‘social sorting’ whereby students find themselves only able to attend universities populated by students from similar financial and social backgrounds. In addition, a greater influx of students could dilute both standards of teaching and the university experience if resources are not increased to match.

Peter Dunn, Warwick’s Head of Communications, was reassuring. “Warwick already attracts large numbers of [high-grade] students. We calculate that 82 percent of home and undergraduate EU students entering Warwick last year had AAB or above last year,” he explained, “[this policy] may mean that even more of the brightest young people get a chance to attend the UK’s best universities.”

Thomas Kendall, a third-year Maths and Philosophy student, congratulated the university on the accolade but warned that “they need to prove that this isn’t another meaningless commendation and work on providing even better services to its students.”