Deputy Minister Nick Clegg is already showing its concern for the enormous number of students from relatively affluent families earning places university. He has recently expressed its ambition to promote greater social mobility in terms of education.
This year a record 379,411 participants could enter a university or college, while about 170,000 are expected to lose a seat because of the unprecedented nature of competition faced by young people leaving school early.
Although many thought that the introduction of more A * be a useful tool to identify the brightest students, while others see it as an additional strategy for Continued dominance of private school students, who tend to achieve a higher standard * A .
Many blame the universities for the use of relatively new system of classification as the only way of determining the “best” students, giving individual interviews led to the recognition of well-rounded and motivated. According to these criteria form, universities are accused of encouraging the carrier of the private school to university.
In recent tests, students in private schools, representing about 14% of all entries, representing 30% of the total number of A * grades assigned. In comparison, 30% of students in public or carry out the “A, but represented 43% of the income test.
The social apartheid “, a term used by Nick Clegg, was a long-standing problem in the education sector, with private schools tend to dominate the spectrum of a higher class, and the consequent allocation of seats in universities.
This is not only happening in England, but Scotland. The element division of the State to individuals should also be noted that the northern border with private schools in Perth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Stirling disproportionate contribution to the landscape of education in Scotland.
However, there is a significant reduction in the number of universities with the category A * in its admissions process, with Cambridge and Oxford, including ignoring the qualification as a useful marker of the capacity of higher education. It is estimated that only 13 universities have referred to the standard A * this year for the allocation of seats.
For many students seek a place at university, the adoption or rejection of A * can create or destroy any hope of continuing education for this year at least.