Warwick says no to cash cow incentives

Several UK universities are implementing a cash incentives programme in a bid to attract high-calibre students to their institutions. Universities such as City University London, Surrey, Leicester and Northumbria are introducing the payments after new Government legislation rescinded former quotas on how many AAB+ students universities could accept. The University of Warwick has no plans to emulate this development.

The University of Warwick figures among the universities with the highest proportion of students with at least AAB at A-Level, making it somewhat immune from the changes. Peter Dunn, Head of Communications at Warwick University, stated that Warwick did not have any plans to introduce cash incentives in order to attract the AAB+ market. Dunn also dismissed concerns that some of the middle and lower-ranking universities might lure potential Warwick students away from the University through their scholarships, stating that “we still have over eight applicants for every place – students want to come here as it is one of the top ten UK universities and because of the type of University it is, and the particular discipline they want to study.”

He was confident that the cash incentives “won’t be an issue for the leading universities such as Warwick.” Reflecting this was the readjustment of A-Level entrance requirements for prospective students earlier this year; only one degree course at Warwick now requires anything less than AAB grades at A-Level.

Sean Ruston, Education Officer at Warwick Students’ Union was also confident in Warwick’s ability to maintain its competitiveness in the face of such offers. He stated that “Warwick is likely to be able to continue to attract AAB+ students.” He added that he was “glad Warwick is not offering cash incentives, it’s an outrageous thing to do, because universities should never spend money based upon attainment. Except in a minority of cases, it should be upon need. Attainment based scholarships and bursaries is a worrying step.”

Ruston also stated that he was worried that students could be mislead by the cash offers, saying that there is a “danger that students will make decisions about university based upon these incentives, or cheaper tuition fees rather than where they’re most academically suited to going, and that’s the result of the marketised higher education system.”

He also said it would disproportionately effect students from low-income backgrounds, and would set a “worrying precedent for seventeen year-olds trying to make choices about their futures.” Warwick does provide some economic incentives for students, with those from less privileged backgrounds being guaranteed bursaries.

Less prestigious universities now face losing out on the best applicants to the highest ranking institutions. Consequently, high achievers are now being offered payouts of up to £3,000 if they attend certain universities. This development coincides with the decision of a number of universities to reduce their tuition fees in order to remain competitive and maintain student numbers and has raised concerns about a marketised system of higher education, and furthermore of a ‘scholarship arms race’.

City University London is one of several institutions proffering scholarships of up to £3,000 per year to AAB+ students who select them as their firm choice. Other middle-ranking universities such as the University of Leicester are offering £2,000 awards for A level students who attain AAA in their exams. This development may also have been stimulated by this year’s apparent fall in Ucas applications for 2012 entry.

Joshua Funnell, a third-year PAIS student, was also critical of the the incentives. “This is the latest grotesque development in the marketisation of education, that takes a basic human need for organic healthy education and manages to commodify it like a breakfast cereal. It seems the process has gone full circle. First we were humbled undergraduates, then empowered consumers, and now we’re commodities bought and then sold on to employers like battery farmed force fed syllabus chickens.”