Admissions

Birmingham academic says scale of issue in England is ‘dramatically misrepresented’

Raise teaching entry standards or we’ll cap places, opposition tells universities

Leading figures in UK higher education warn sector will ‘take decades to recover’ from no-deal Brexit

Liz Carlile explains why the University of Sheffield has avoided giving unconditional offers to applicants who have yet to sit their exams

Equity ‘synonymous’ with excellence, creating the pre-conditions for multi-dimensional learning, conference hears

Universities told to reduce gap in entry rates between most and least disadvantaged applicants by almost half by 2024-25 and eliminate it altogether by the end of the subsequent decade

Latest Ucas figures likely to fuel criticism of system

‘Entry gap’ between men and women wider than ever before, Ucas data show

A new report shows that England, Australia and Cuba are leaders in widening participation, while Japan and Russia lag behind. But with context so important in this area, how fair is it to compare?

What single change to university practice would have the most positive and far-reaching consequences? Eight academics and thinkers give us their views

IQ tests are conceptually muddled measures of learned knowledge, self-confidence and social background, says Kenneth Richardson

Ucas analysis also reveals that such offer-making is even more widespread when ‘conditional unconditional’ offers are included 

Fewer than one in three nations set specific participation targets for disadvantaged groups, study finds

Ronald Daniels promises to take more students from poor backgrounds as observers say $1.8 billion donation would be better spent elsewhere

Japan’s combined budgetary crunch and demographic squeeze has raised questions about the sustainability of its huge university sector. John Ross visits the country to investigate

Analysis of wage premiums from tertiary education suggests that the system struggles to deliver the changing skills that the economy demands, says Stephen Parker

Public institutions vow to tackle inequality at conference

Government attempts to protect regional institutions by restricting growth in capital

‘Seriously negligent’ university overcharged students on franchised course ‘persistently’

Country is on the verge of achieving its now scrapped enrolment target, years before the deadline

The Australian government has released three major data sets unusually back-to-back and full of mistakes, leading John Ross to ask: why so much, why so fast and why so erroneous?

Australia’s freeze on teaching grants protected struggling institutions, not education budget

Parties must wait for a ruling on affirmative action policies, with a Supreme Court judgment likely years away

Sector representatives sceptical of ‘kickstarter’ spending

Record revenue fuelled by large foreign intakes at the country’s biggest universities

Study finds current methods used for assessing disadvantage fall short

St Mary’s University, Twickenham found that unconditional offers were unlikely to benefit recruitment efforts

If he had chosen to pursue the biggest factor in Harvard’s admissions discrimination – preferences for the white and wealthy – Michael Wang would have faced obstacles from alumni and the law alike

Applications and offers tumble for the first time this decade

NUS vice-provost on crusade against built-in obsolescence

Win or lose, Harvard may need to ask whether pursuing its affirmative action case all the way to the Supreme Court is in the best overall interest of US higher education

Tokyo Medical University not alone in rigging entrance exams to exclude women

As number of applicants from the EU flatlines, UK and rest of world drives growth

Boosts to numbers of poor and black students entering university overseen by Workers’ Party candidate Fernando Haddad could unravel if right-wing populist becomes president, writes Stephanie Reist

Lawsuit by an Asian-American student challenging rejection reveals white students, not black applicants, to be the advantaged party

The trial beginning on Monday in Boston will assess whether Harvard’s admissions policies discriminate against Asian-Americans in favour of black applicants

A landmark analysis of several government data sets will help policymakers make more effective interventions, says Roger Smyth

Latest fall in student numbers linked to mass emigration following European Union membership in 2007

Enrolment of Peter Cvjetanovic on political theory master’s sparks debate about whether universities can consider applicant’s political views in admissions processes

‘Current policy climate’ may be a ‘contributing factor’, says Council of Graduate Schools

University hopes funding will help widening participation goals

New book says random allocation of places is ‘only way of levelling the education playing field’

Data from the Office for Students appear to show vocational courses have bigger shares of such students

Many counsellors opting to work overseas or move into private practice

Report says non-white students will represent 73 per cent of undergraduates by end of next decade

Office for Students says end of system of annual negotiations will allow universities to be more ‘ambitious’ and ‘flexible’

Institutions say they don’t doctor their admissions, but figures tell a different story

New admissions system, set up to end a lottery for places, has led some applicants to leave decisions to the last minute

Universities would have to share proposed equity grants scheme with colleges and non-profits

There has been a surge of applications for Dutch universities, while students are also trying to ‘catch the last train’ before Brexit

Freedom of Information requests suggest just a handful of members are involved in huge growth seen across sector

Soul-searching is required by institutions if they want to survive the alarming decline in student numbers that will leave many classrooms empty, says Jayden Kim

Experts look at the international picture for young people trying to move from care into universities

UK’s least selective universities continue to lose out in recruitment battle

New furore over a steep rise in unconditional offers and concerns over student mental health underlines why reform of the UK’s unique admissions system is long overdue, says Julie Kelly

Key figures from the university sector respond to results and early Ucas figures on acceptances

Government steps in after scams undermine consumer protection arrangements

Giving students the time and space to make informed decisions about where to study will set them up for success on their educational journey, says Christina Edgar

Lower-tariff institutions continue to lose out as 18-year-old population declines

Perilous drops in student recruitment at UK universities during A-level clearing raise the likelihood of institutional failures, a prospect that remains as politically unpalatable as ever, says Nick Hillman