University candidates selected on their GCSE results

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor

Students who under-perform in their GCSEs face being rejected from university in the rush for degree places. Photo: ALAMY A growing number of institutions are using the results that children achieve at 16 as a “crude preliminary filter” as competition for higher education places hits unprecedented levels.

Some leading universities now require students to score a string of A grades at 16 as a minimum entry requirement in addition to A-levels, research by The Daily Telegraph has found.

Universities minister 'sorry' that students are not being accepted Teachers warned that the move risked punishing late bloomers and forcing children to make decisions about their career at the age of 13, when GCSE options are chosen.

But academics insisted that universities had to look beyond A-level results to pick out the best candidates from the record numbers applying for degree courses.

Martin Stephen, the High Master of St Paul’s School, west London, said that some universities rejected students who failed to get a string of elite A*s at GCSE.

“The A* is being used as a crude, preliminary filter which is hugely regrettable because it simply discriminates against the late developer,” he said.

“There are a significant number of very clever people who didn’t show what they were capable of at the age of 16. Children have to be allowed to make mistakes — it is a fundamental part of learning — but our treadmill of an examination system no longer allows this to happen.”

The comments come as 750,000 children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland prepare to receive their GCSE results today.

Grades are expected to reach a record high, with more than a fifth of exams to be awarded an A – almost three times the rate when GCSEs were introduced in 1988.

But figures from exam boards will show that thousands of teenagers are still underperforming. As many as 37 per cent are expected to fail to gain a C — considered a good pass — in English and almost 43 per cent will miss out in maths.

This could severely undermine their chances of getting on to a string of courses at leading universities two years later, irrespective of their subsequent performance at A-level.

Research by The Daily Telegraph found that Imperial College London’s faculty of medicine said applicants needed three As and two Bs in GCSE biology, chemistry, English language, mathematics and physics.

Sheffield University’s medical school said students needed six As in GCSEs, while Kent said students needed five passes at C or above, including English, for all its courses.

The science facility at St Andrews said students needed the equivalent of B grades in English and maths.

Warwick said all applicants needed a C or above in GCSE English language, as well as maths or a science subject, although many courses demanded grades “above this university minimum”.

Leeds said students applying for dentistry needed six GCSEs, including Cs in English, maths, chemistry and biology.

Adrian Prandle, the education policy adviser at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “Universities are constantly saying that they need students who can think for themselves and aren’t just robotically trained to pass tests.

“I think there is a great danger that universities could end up contributing to this problem by making pupils feel that they need to simply accumulate more and more GCSEs at 16.”

Tony Little, the Head Master of Eton, said last year that universities should disregard all qualifications taken before the age of 18 to “remove the straitjacket of examination” for secondary school pupils.

Figures yesterday showed that around a third of people who applied for university this year had so far failed to secure a place.

Up to 187,000 were still searching through the clearing process – some 46,358 more than last year.

A spokesman for the University of Sheffield said: “The University of Sheffield receives a high number of applications to study Medicine, for a limited supply of places.

"Many of these applicants are of a very high quality, and have achieved excellent results in their A-Level examinations. To be a medic requires a range of knowledge and skills and we need evidence of a consistent level of achievement in GCSE and A-Level examinations to demonstrate the potential to succeed on our Medicine course.

"As part of our selection process, along with other Universities, we therefore also take into account previous academic performance, such as GCSE results.”

Janet Graham, the director of Supporting Professionalism in Admissions, which advises universities on admissions policies, insisted institutions had always checked GCSE or O-level grades but many were now “more explicit” about the precise requirements.

“If you are going to study medicine you will usually do three sciences at A-levels – not English or maths. Institutions need to know that candidates have that basic level of English and maths which is why they look at GCSEs,” she said.