MPs set to investigate unconditional offers

MPs are set to review whether unconditional offers are being given to students as a way for universities to secure their fees.

The trend of awarding unconditional offers to applicants has accelerated since the Government announced that the cap on university places would be lifted.

In five years, the number of unconditional offers handed to students by universities rose over 17-fold.

The Conservative chair of the Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon, has said that he is “very concerned” about the issue.

“It’s one of the reasons why our committee is doing a value-for-money inquiry into universities and higher education.”

“I think that the universities want the courses filled; they get the public subsidy from the loan. I think that’s why they are making these unconditional offers and why they’ve increased so greatly.”

Of the 259,230 sixth-form students who applied to university last year, nearly one in five received an unconditional offer

Between 2013 and 2017, the number of unconditional offers made to sixth-form students rose by 1600%, from just 2,985 to 51,615.

Of the 259,230 sixth-form students who applied to university last year, nearly one in five received an unconditional offer.

Nick Hillman, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said there was “a little bit of evidence that students who get unconditional offers are taking their foot off the pedal”.

Figures published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) in December showed that students predicted to get Cs are twice as likely to receive an offer as those with straight A*s.

10.6% of applicants with three predicted C grades were given an unconditional offer compared with 4.6% of students who were predicted to obtain three A*s.

The Education Select Committees, as part of a wider inquiry into whether taking a degree is good value for money, are therefore looking into the role that unconditional offers have within university placements.

It’s bad news if there are some youngsters receiving these guarantees who are not working hard

– Lord Willetts

In response to this, Universities UK, which represents the sector, said: “It is simply not in the interests of universities to take students without the potential to succeed at university.”

The government has said it was monitoring closely the number of unconditional offers made each year and the potential impact they might have on student outcomes.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph in December, Lord Willetts, the former universities minister, said the trend was “worrying” and could lead to students “coasting” through their A-level exams and failing to reach their potential.

“There are features in this which are worrying. Universities are competing against one another more than ever now, which is a good thing actually.”

“But it’s bad news if there are some youngsters receiving these guarantees who are not working hard. I think this is the kind of thing that Universities UK and UCAS should look into.”

His comments were reiterated by Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Committee, who said: “While we do need contextualised admissions, having a free for all and using students as a revenue raiser is entirely out of order.”

“This is diluting the quality of education, and universities are clearly putting the need to secure funding from an optimal number of students above standards.”