Labour’s proposed changes to the higher education admissions system: The Sutton Trust responds

Labour has announced plans to reform higher education admissions by scrapping university offers based on predicted grades and implementing a new fairer system of post-qualification admissions (“PQA”).

In response, Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, said:

“The Labour party is right to look at overhauling the university admissions system. The current system is based on students’ predicted grades which are wrong most of the time. Our research has found that high-attaining disadvantaged students are more likely to have their grades under-predicted than their better-off peers.

“Moving to a system of post-qualification applications would empower the student to make the best university choice for them. We’d also like to see a greater use of contextual data in the admissions process, as well as a review of the personal statement to see how it could be improved.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

• Rules of the Game, by Dr Gill Wyness, Senior Lecturer in Economics of Education at the UCL Institute of Education, found that 1,000 high-attaining, disadvantaged students have their grades under-predicted each year.
• The Sutton Trust is committed to improving social mobility from birth to the workplace. Founded by Sir Peter Lampl in 1997, the Trust has supported over 30,000 young people through evidence-led programmes and published over 200 pieces of agenda-setting research, many of which have influenced government policy.