Your starter for ten

The Open University won this week's University Challenge final. Does that mean more students will apply to the OU? John Davies reports

Here's a question that wasn't asked in the University Challenge final this week on BBC2. Can producer Peter Gwyn make a difference to universities' application figures? To put it another way, are potential students attracted to a college or university that does well on the venerable quiz?

There are certainly those who think so. Take Bangor, which last month reached the semi-final (the Welsh team lost to Oriel College, Oxford). This was the first time the University of Wales's northern outpost had been represented since the BBC re-launched the series in 1994.

"We're not a very well-known place, so this kind of publicity is invaluable," says Bangor's press officer, Elinor Elis-Williams. "It's exposure for the university on UK television for half an hour at a time, and you can't buy that. That's one of the reasons why applications to study at Bangor this year have gone up by between 3 and 4 per cent."

De Montfort would agree. "In terms of getting your name spoken about, there's no denying it does you good," says the university's Linda Penrice. In the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service applications statistics reported in The THES last week, De Montfort had risen by 18 per cent, although Penrice says she does "not feel qualified" to make any connection between that phenomenon and her university's first-round win in this season's University Challenge.

Even a long-established institution such as Magdalen College, Oxford, which produced the winning team last year and in 1997, takes the view that University Challenge appearances have a significant effect. "It's only a game but I do think the college's success has encouraged a higher number of applications from state schools," says Magdalen president Anthony Smith (All four members of his college's 1997 team, and three out of four in 1998, came from state schools). "I'm happy to say that this year we've reached a 50 per cent state-school intake."

So, picking a successful team for University Challenge, which has an average weekly audience of 2.5 million is important for a university. Too important, perhaps, to be left to its students? Not at The Open University, whose students "always keep the university administration at arm's length" when it comes to selecting teams, according to OU students' association secretary John Needham. "But it's such a high-profile thing these days that it seems some (universities') marketing departments want to get their hands on it."

The OU, whose team beat Oriel College, Oxford, to win this week's final, selected their next team some time ago: they were whittled down from more than 600 candidates who volunteered after Needham sent out an appeal via the university's computer conferencing system.

Bangor had a more hands-on approach. "The student union didn't feel it had the time or wherewithal to organise things last year, so they came to us," says Elis-Williams. The result was a lunchtime quiz for potential team members run by a member of the university's marketing department, who consulted a number of faculty members for questions. The five top-scoring students (four plus a reserve) were entered.

De Montfort's administration also ended by helping. "Once the students got the team together, one of the university's pro-vice-chancellors was quite involved," Penrice says. "He spent several training sessions with them - they got the buzzers out and had some practice questions."

There is, however, at least one university that definitely won't be competing in University Challenge next year - Sussex. "We feel that it is just a chance for brainy people to show off and it doesn't match the ideals of the student movement," declares Sussex student union president Becca Holyhead. "We see education as a positive experience where everyone helps each other to learn."

Whatever they think at Sussex, Gwyn won't be short of candidates for the next University Challenge. Just 28 teams are needed for the next series. Of the UK's 170 eligible institutions, more than 110 applied to take part a couple of weeks before the next series deadline. Next month, Gwyn starts the elimination process for the 1999-2000 series, which starts recording in June.

It would be foolish, though, to think that an appearance on University Challenge will solve your recruiting problems. Imperial College, winners three years ago, had 3 per cent fewer applications last year, Essex and Southampton - neither of whom have qualified for any post-1994 contests - saw their end-of-1999 applications rise considerably. And did the fall in applications to Portsmouth of nearly 12 per cent have anything to do with its defeat in the first round at the hands of De Montfort? Probably not. As Anthony Smith says, it is only a game.

Older but wiser?

University Challenge producer Peter Gwyn concedes that The Open University's victory this year has served to emphasise the presence of mature students. "I think it is noticeable that more universities fielded postgraduates this season."

In the case of one member of the OU team, there was another factor: Lance Haward, now 62, has appeared on a number of other TV quizzes, including Mastermind. He has said he enrolled on his classical Greek course in order to get on to University Challenge.

CHALLENGE FACTS

University Challenge ran for 23 series on ITV, from 1962 to 1987. It was revived in 1994 by the BBC, which has now broadcast five series, with a sixth in prospect for 1999-2000. The full list of winners is:

Cambridge colleges 6 times

Churchill 1971

Sidney Sussex 1972 and 1979

Fitzwilliam 1974

Trinity 1975 and 1994-95

Oxford colleges 10 times

New 1964-65

Oriel 1966-67

University 1973 and 1977

Keble 1976 and 1987

Merton 1981

Jesus 1986

Magdalen 1996-97 and 1997-98

Others 12

Leicester 19626-3

Sussex 1968 and 1970

Keele 1969

Durham 1978

Bradford 1980

Queen's Belfast 1982

St Andrews 1983

Dundee 1984

Open University 1985, 1999

Imperial, London 1995-96

The 1998-99 final, between the OU and Oriel College, Oxford, was broadcast

on BBC2 on Tuesday.