Imperial College to introduce entrance exams
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Print
Email
One of Britain's leading universities is to set its own entrance exam because it believes that grade inflation has "destroyed" A-levels as a way of distinguishing between candidates.
Imperial College London said it would introduce the exam for all subjects within two years. It added that if the scheme was successful it hoped to extend it to other universities, developing a national system for selecting students for science courses.
The move will make Imperial the first British university to use entrance tests across the board since Oxford scrapped its entrance exams in 1995.
Sir Richard Sykes, Imperial's rector, told the annual conference of the Independent Schools Council that it was no longer possible to rely on A-levels to distinguish between candidates when grade inflation meant that so many applicants were predicted four or five A-grades each.
"A lot of universities are thinking the same as us," Sir Richard said. "The top institutions have great difficulty separating out the best students."
The new exam will test intelligence and problem solving rather than require additional subject knowledge. Sir Richard said that candidates would still need to have studied A-levels or equivalent qualifications to demonstrate learning.
Andrew Adonis, the Schools minister, denied that grade inflation had devalued the A-level. "Independent evidence shows educational standards are being maintained," he said.
Imperial College was ranked as the joint third best university in the UK, with the London School of Economics, beaten only by Oxford and Cambridge, according to The Independent university league tables.
Comments
15 Comments
It was only a matter of time (Although I managed to get into read Chemistry with AAC )
Posted by Anon | 05.06.08, 00:02 GMT
This is a good way for universities to judge on the same basis candidates from all over the world. Universities currently accept not just A levels as a qualification, but also many of the equivalent university entrance exam systems issued by countries around the globe. Even if you can trust A levels (and I am not saying you can't), how can you rely on the evaluation of different exam systems? Add to this the fact that overseas fees are a huge income to British universities and you will realize that something needs to be done.
Posted by Sheryll | 04.06.08, 16:43 GMT
I'm a physics student at Imperial and there is hardly anyone here who does not have A grades in A-level physics and further mathematics. The A-levels I did were a joke compared to the work we do at Imperial.
So I think this is great. And to be the first to do this will improve Imperial's quality, and thus the significance of my degree in the future.
Posted by Anon | 04.06.08, 15:24 GMT
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Posted by Anthony Price | 04.06.08, 12:56 GMT
The decision of Imperial College to introduce an entrance exam is very bold and should be followed by other good universities. The politically correct attitude of everybody is equally is absolutely rubbish, not everyone can go to university. Meritocracy and competition should be more valued. Competition exists in the society and should exist at university as well. What is wrong with being the best and being recruited for your real abilities? Obviously Labour governments think everybody should go to university, this is so ludicrous. Also valuing trades would be a good thing too, because without bakers, farmers, plumbers, electricians there would be nothing. I doubt media students could keep us alive!
Posted by Gin | 04.06.08, 12:47 GMT
Whilst the LSE does not have an entrance exam it does require that all applicants enter a personal statement explaining why they want to study the subject. This seems to work very well for not quantitative subjects. I certainly see why Imperial would want to test applicants, surely it's time the government woke from from the "prizes for all mentality".
I see a situation developing within higher education, if it has not already developed whereby if you have not attended an elite university you might have well as not bothered.
Posted by Martin Garthwaite | 04.06.08, 12:10 GMT
If you think your secondary schools are in bad shape, come visit the US.
Posted by cashaww | 04.06.08, 12:08 GMT
Dumbing subjects down has certainly been done, and the unis need to distinguish between candidates (as do employers, and I - as an occasional employer - have found recent qualifications to be less than enlightening as to a person's knowledge). The problem is that children from poor backgrounds get such a poor education that making the a-levels harder (and by implication, inserting an additional level of testing) would unfairly descriminate against those with a poor education and those who have never been tested before (my GCSEs were the first tests I ever sat in my life). It's all well and good saying "make it harder", but you need to make the teaching better first.
Posted by Chrissy | 04.06.08, 12:08 GMT
cut and paste generation? ouch! the vast majority of students work really hard to get a place into university and now they are going to have to sit another test?
Posted by Steven | 04.06.08, 11:46 GMT
Well, can the cut and paste generation think and reason for itself or not? No doubt Imperial's test will decide.
Posted by Nora | 04.06.08, 11:37 GMT
15 Comments