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Entrance exams for Imperial, Rector criticises state schools
Matt Brown
Wednesday, 04 June 2008 10:08 UTC
Sir Richard Sykes, outgoing Rector of Imperial College, has announced plans for an entrance exam for prospective students.
Speaking at the Independent Schools Council’s annual meeting, the Rector highlighted the difficulties in selecting star students from a pool of impressively qualified applicants.
“We cannot use A-levels any more as a discriminatory factor. They have all got four or five A-levels,” he said.
Finding it ‘frightening’ that 40% of Imperial’s students come from private education, Sykes also criticised state schools:
“We have got to do something radical if we are going to save children in 93% of our schools that somehow are just not getting the education they deserve.” [Here referring to the percentage of children who attend state schools as opposed to receiving private education.]
While the entrance exam seems a pragmatic solution, his contention that children in state education need ‘saving’ was always going to raise a few hackles. An article on Imperial’s student news site Live has already attracted exasperated remarks, with one former student saying, “I’m horrified by these comments!”.
The entrance exams will be trialled from 2010.
Updated 04 June 2008 10:09 UTC
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Replies
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Having two children currently going through secondary school education in the UK, I agree that the exams are a lot more difficult than the mass media give credit for. I think it has always been an issue that a lot of students get top grades for A level — back in the dark ages when I did A levels, there was a separate, optional level called “S” level which has now been abolished, which is a pity because, for higher-education institutions, it was a good indicator both of ability and enthusiasm of the students. To have replaced it with first-year intermediate A levels is a mistake in my opinion (my daughter has just finished hers yesterday and I’ve seen the process at first hand.)
Also back in the dark ages when I did A levels, Oxford and Cambridge had their own entrance exams. Oxford, at least, still does for some subjects (not sure about Cambridge without checking). What Imperial is proposing seems to be just this system, fair enough if they are looking for particular interests and abilities. But I expect the media will (or has) jumped on it as yet more false evidence that A levels are being dumbed down. (I write false becuase this initiative of Imperial’s isn’t evidence in itself of A level standards one way or the other.) -
This is dangerous territory for comment as I work in a University and help with admissions. Imperial (like Oxford and Cambridge) is in a position of strength when it coes to setting entrance examinationss. Sykes knows full well that he has loads of students (and overseas students too) who would love to study at Imperial. He can then be choosy and suggest an exam. If Imperial College introduces an exam, the other 2 international brand Universities (O & C) will follow.
Now let us consider a student at secondaty school in England, Wales and Norther Ireland (we ignore the Scots as they have their own separate education system). Said student is now taking A-levels (or diplomas or the Internataional Bac) and will have to study for an extra one or two entrance examinations. Now if these entrance exams are seen as successful, it won’t be long before the Russel Group universities all introduce exams and we will be in a ridiculous situation of multiple entrance examinations alongside the National qualifications.
Imperial College is just deflecting discussion (and generating a little publicity for itself as an elite institution) from the problem of selective admission to Universities and the absence of a good test to select the best students for popular subjects. Sykes is a good media player (remember his comments on Luton University in the past).
Admission selection always causes problems for the minority subjects. In the Sciences, there is a much larger pool of students interested in Physics, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physiology than in Materials Science, Earth Sciences etc. If you introduce an exam it is normally found that the students who wish to do the minority sciences score less well (or there are fewer of them) than for the majority subjects. This introduces pressures to shrink the smaller courses or even close them down to make room for more (and allegedly better) students in popular subjects. I fear that widespread introduction of entrance tests may well have unintended, market driven, consequences along these lines.
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@Maxine: When reading around this announcement, I didn’t encounter any reports suggesting a ‘dumbing down of A levels’, although that is the usual response. I’m amazed that Imperial’s applicants ‘all have 4 or 5 A levels’. When I was doing them, we were practically banned from doing more than 3, lest we lose focus–and I found three to be pretty intensive. How students routinely fit in 5 A levels leaves me agog. Either the kids and teachers are a lot smarter, or the folks with 5 A-levels got them in subjects that are less intensive than the chem-bio-maths trio I did.
@Brian: Some interesting points. Sykes’ proposed exams test for general intelligence and creativity, so they’re not something you can really study for. Still, it does add an extra burden of stress to the student who has to sit several of these exams.
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Yes, Brian, you make interesting points. It is fascinating seeing the perspectives of various “stakeholders” in the system!
But I can certainly attest that Oxford does have an entrance exam still— or at least it does in history. It may have outsourced it (I think it is called CAT or some such name) but if you apply to Oxford to do history you have to take it, whereas you don’t if you apply to Cambridge for the same subject.Of course, one of the “4 or 5” A levels will be in a subject like critical thinking, gradually taking over from general studies and the like, as universities and other higher-education institutions are said to find scores in this subject a good indicator of individuality and ablity, cf students who are “well drilled” for their main subjects. However, my (cynical) take is that this is because critical thinking is still relatively new. Once it becomes more widespread and a more formal requirement for the top universities, schools will get as good at “drilling” students as they are at the other topics. (Analogy: citation “gaming” among scientists and other academics).
Also, a lot of these additional A levels are staggered through the student’s career, eg it is very common for people to take maths or a language GCSE a year early, at the time when the courses are easier. This isn’t true in all cases, some students do cram in 4 full A levels plus critical thinking (or other compulsory general subject) in the 2 years, but most who do additional full A levels do it by the staggered method.
The vast majority of “4 or 5 A levels” referred to by Dr Sykes consist of 3 main-subject A levels, 1 general subect, and one “half” A level, dropped at the end of year 12. Though I take Brian’s point that Dr S has an abundance of riches and can afford to pick and choose for some special-case reasons, it is perfectly possible to get into Oxbridge in every subject with what the vast majority have, as many people do this each year.
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PS, Referring to another point in your post, Matt, I still find it shocking that 93 per cent of people in the UK receive a state education, and the “best” universities have around or fewer than 50 per cent of students from these schools. Bit like the “gender in science” issue. Of course universities want the best students they can get, but honestly.
And Brian alludes to the increasing proportion of overseas students competing for these places on price, which possibly skews the ratios even more.
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I left Oxford almost 10 years ago so I am rather out of date. I think these new exams are shorter that the old style that I took many years ago. Often, they are taken at the University during the interview process and are not very long.
One of the reasons that they were introduced is because the interview process is seen as favouring private schools who have more resource to allocate to students. However, I was talking to the headmaster of Manchester Grammar School (local top private school) and they offer free interview coaching sessions to local state school students applying to Oxbridge.
The fraction of privately educated students at University requires analysis. I believe that if you look at students taking A-levels, the fraction who are not state educated becomes higher because a large number of 16+ kids are either not in education or attend a College of FE studying vocational subjects. Thus the ratio of state:private changes (I think it is 12% private at A-levels). The majority of parents who send their kids to private school are aspirational middle class and push their kids towards Oxbridge and the Russel Group universities. Poorer families may wish their kids to go to the local University to reduce costs.
Overseas students are an interesting phenomenon at present. Universities love them because they pay higher fees and do not count against any quotas. At the moment the market is buoyant and their are many Asian kids who wish to attend any UK university. However, it is noticable that the quality of the average overseas student is not brilliant. Often, they have come to the UK because thay cannot get into the top local Unis and can get into a mid-ranked UK institution if their parents are rich. This market is shrinking as the perceived value of European/US education is reducing – because the local product is improving. A few international brand Uk universities will still be strong in international education (and Imperial will be one of those) but other Universities in the UK may find the going tough in the international market.
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Malcolm Grant, Sykes’ counterpart at University College London, is now weighing in. UCL, it seems, ‘has no plans to introduce a university-wide aptitude test’, but does not rule them out.
They’re happy for admissions tutors to rely on A level data as an indication of applicant suitability. According to the press release: ‘More data [is] available than simply the headlines scores, including raw marks for component modules, and a number of further changes are being introduced from September this year, including the introduction of an A* grade.’
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Brian, just to note for the record, the Oxford history course demands that applicants take an independent exam at school before they apply. Whether the applicant is called to interview depends on the results of that exam (in part or whole). I don’t know what Oxford does about other subjects.
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