Unconditional offers: Taking your foot off the gas in the last few months of school is the sort of decision you take as a child and regret as an adult

Responding to the new data on unconditional offers published by UCAS, Nick Hillman, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said:

Our universities are among the best in the world because they enjoy such high levels of autonomy, including over admissions. But we are in the midst of a battle to protect that autonomy, and the continuing expansion of “conditional unconditional” offers is making it harder to win.

For now, we should all remind young people to keep on working hard even when they receive an unconditional offer. It might be too late for this year’s crop of school leavers, but others need to understand that grades stay on CVs for decades. Taking your foot off the gas in the last few months of school is the sort of decision you take as a child and regret as an adult.

All these issues need to be considered by any review of university admissions.

Notes for Editors

1. The Higher Education Policy Institute was established in 2002 to shape the higher education policy debate with evidence. It is the United Kingdom’s only independent think tank devoted to higher education. HEPI is a non-partisan charity funded in part by organisations and universities that wish to see a vibrant higher education debate.
2. Our most recent publication looked at the issue of contextual offers, which are a form of conditional offer designed to promote fairer access to selective higher education.