According to recent data from the UK higher education admissions service, UCAS, a small number of institutions have contributed to the sharp rise in the number of sixth-formers receiving unconditional offers from universities. Most universities offer students a conditional place, dependent on them achieving particular grades, but roughly 20 universities are heavily reliant on unconditional offers. In 2018, for example, three universities – the University of Suffolk, York St John University, and the University of Bolton – made over 70% of their offers unconditional. Nottingham Trent University alone made an unconditional offer to 8,660 applicants. Last year, one third of sixth-formers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland received at least one such offer compared with just 3,000 five years ago.
Many are concerned about the rise of unconditional offers in what is seen as an increasingly competitive market. The Office for Students (OfS), the higher education regulator in England, has expressed concern, particularly with “conditional unconditional offers”, where a university will make an unconditional offer only if an applicant names them as their first choice institution. Nicola Dandridge, the OfS’s chief executive, has stated that “for a number of universities this data will make uncomfortable reading – where they cannot justify the offers they make they should reconsider their approach”. A spokesperson for Universities UK said the organisation will discuss with UCAS whether more can be done to use conditional offers more sparingly.
Out of the 140 largest UK universities, 85 make no or very few unconditional offers, although some prestigious institutions, such as the University of Birmingham, are among those that do. In 2018, Birmingham made 4,765 offers with an unconditional component out of 25,000, compared with just 330 in 2013. UCAS also found that the University of Nottingham – another of the UK’s Russell Group universities – also made nearly 3,000 unconditional offers, accounting for 11% of its total offers. However, Nottingham University recently announced it would no longer be using unconditional offers after this September. The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said that the growth in unconditional offers was evidence that the UK’s free market system in higher education was failing students.
The rise in unconditional offers occurred after the UK government lifted the cap on undergraduate places for individual institutions in 2015. Some are calling for an overhaul of the admissions system. Matt Waddup, head of policy for the University and College Union, has urged a move toward a system where students apply to universities after receiving their school-leaving results.
