Tony Higgins: What crisis? There was no A-level crisis

Students are at the centre of our operation, and their rights and privileges must be preserved. If they are, everyone benefits. I have therefore been disturbed at the stress under which students applying for higher education have been put in recent weeks because of the so-called A-level crisis or fiasco. There was no crisis or fiasco. The most passionate supporter of students, schools and teachers, Estelle Morris, lost her job because of this non-fiasco. So too did Bill Stubbs, probably the most talented education administrator that we have seen in a generation.

There were allegations that tens of thousands of students had lost their favoured university place. Ucas took a conscious decision to make no public statement until the grade boundaries had been re-examined by the exam boards. They have been now. Only 2,000 students had their overall A-level results regraded, and only 168 were thereby given the option of switching to a different university or course. Every year, not just this summer, Ucas receives thousands of changes to results from the exam boards. This year was no different.

In the event, only 16 students actually changed their university or college as a result of the re-grading exercise. Another eight students who failed initially to gain a university place have won places for next autumn.

Surely I cannot have been the only person to see the changes that the sixth-form curriculum would have on exam results. Part of the benefit of Curriculum 2000 is that students who are not performing particularly well, or not enjoying their AS-levels, can drop out at the end of year 12 and take up another AS-level. That is what happened. It meant the number of A-level candidates dropped but their quality improved. Therefore A-level results were better. We had the usual outburst that standards were falling. What an insult to students, their families and their teachers! A few weeks later, however, heads of independent schools complained that their pupils had been downgraded. Can people have it both ways?

I hear now that there will be more appeals against the marking of papers and, in particular, against coursework grades. Insiders say the appeals will be turned down because the independent schools in particular do not understand coursework. They don't understand how to set it, how to monitor it or how to assess it. Will we now see parents taking legal action against schools that have not delivered the education they were expecting for their £12,000-a-year fees. These are not my views but what I have heard around the circuit.

During this controversy, I have been particularly irritated by remarks that the new Ucas points tariff, which rates the AS-level at 50 per cent of the A-level, was behind the need to recognise the AS-level as half of an A-level. In fact, in planning the tariff, Ucas was clearly told by the Government and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority that an AS-level was half an A-level. Period.

Although the crisis or fiasco never existed, except in the mind of those who wished to promote it, interesting issues arise. UCAS, along with Universities UK and the Standing Conference of Principals, has presented evidence to the Tomlinson Inquiry, and we raised a number of issues. We said that it would be much better to have a system where students apply to university after they have their A-level results, rather than depend on conditional offers.

We favour England having a single exam board rather than the three at present. There could thereby be a reduction in the number of syllabuses and in timetable clashes to give a shorter examining period, and the publication of results earlier than at present. We would like to see the relationship of the AS-level and the A-level examined to see whether the AS-level should retain its value of half an A-level.

I am well known for saying that a mere 1 per cent error by Ucas or an exam board can mean a 100 per cent error for a student. There are many lessons to be learnt from the events of recent weeks, one of which is not to unsettle students unnecessarily. J'accuse!

The writer is chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas)

education@independent.co.uk