Admissions

Elite universities could be doing far more to help disadvantaged students, regardless of what the Supreme Court decides on affirmative action, say makers of Exclusion U documentary

Colleges and universities are providing students more in tuition breaks than they collect, in sign of growing budgetary strains

Institutions will be able to limit or expand recruitment depending on local circumstances, with more centralised management also possible

Study finds trainee doctors become cynical, emotionally distanced and desensitised towards their patients

With nation’s top judicial body expected to outlaw efforts to consider race in admissions, student essays held out as alternative means of preserving equity

Existing providers must hone a distinctive offer to deal with increased competition at home and abroad, experts tell Ucas

Series of recent shutdowns across the country attributed to shifts in political attitudes and post-Covid technologies

While pundits predicted international woe from border closures, accounts suggest waning domestic demand is doing the damage

University of Pennsylvania’s pulling of legacy aid seen as sign of embarrassment and potential harbinger of change across US elite

Boosting disadvantaged Australians’ share of university places requires biggest contributions from institutions already pulling most weight, study finds

Many learners reluctant to attend public institutions as this may ‘legitimise regime’, says researcher

Encouraging graduates into teaching would bring a ready-made army of advocates for university study into daily contact with pupils, says Jane White

Australia’s underwhelming success in making university enrolments more equitable underlines the need to ‘address schooling’, forum hears

T levels are an alternative to A levels, not to level 1-3 vocational courses. Students need both options, says Sam Parrett

As states weigh hundreds of calls to cut gender-related rights, institutions are predicted to face relocations even more extensive than those tied to abortion

Pragmatic approach to careers and medical school frenzy behind trend of turning down offers at prestigious ‘SKY’ institutions, academics say

State education department head suggests SAT could be replaced by Christian-oriented alternative

A digitised form of America’s famous admissions exam will help level the playing field for university applicants across the world, says Cezar Wazen

Monthly payments not enough to counter massive rises in cost of living, says students’ union

Numbers of students unable to say if parents had studied could point to need to rethink representation questions, says Hesa

Colleges hope that disadvantaged students might do better if their school counselors are given a chance to come along with them

Big uptick in female enrolment in final years of school needed to improve higher education representation unless conversion rate improves, or courses are made optional

Limiting international student numbers or cutting post-study work eligibility is not the way to become a science superpower, says Max Lu

Study that asked Americans if they would use genetic screening or gene editing to improve chances of offspring getting into a leading university triggers warning of increased educational inequalities

English regulator concedes providers being asked to do too much, too quickly and gives most another year to work on plans

Total number of applications to study for a degree in UK down by 2.3 per cent at January deadline

Government-set access target ‘can’t become a burden’ and there is ‘debate to be had’ on its metrics, says academic and ex-football referee

US Supreme Court widely expected to rule against Harvard and UNC in landmark cases, leading many institutions to start the process for considering what happens next

UK higher education admissions service moves to put vocational routes into careers on an ‘equal footing’ with traditional options

Recently launched provider spends big in attempt to drive ‘exponential growth’ in student numbers

Leading institutions switching from exams to interviews for admission, but students from many universities are excluded from this route

Enrolment declines also shrink, but inflation and historical patterns cited as reasons for sector to expect danger may be lurking

Beijing’s abolition of Covid-era concession expected to spur international enrolments while generating logistical migraines

The decision to allow organised luck back into student selection sits awkwardly between politics and science

Participation keeps going up, but significant equality issues remain

Experts say long awaited overhaul is welcome but questions-based approach still leaves some students at more of an advantage

The government must invest significantly in a national infrastructure to develop more effective interventions, say Antony Moss and Deborah Johnston

Deans warn of ‘wasted opportunity’ as Westminster government rules restrict intakes to international students only

Admissions service also making changes to teacher references, and plans to release details of grade profiles that were accepted onto courses

Data lay bare how Russell Group institutions have hit the brakes after years of expansion, as post-92s make up ground

Move to ‘ease burden’ on applicants could leave institutions with ‘no choice’ but to raise other costs, scholar warns

Federal prosecutor declares that prosecutions changed elite university operations, although wealth-based privileges seen as still robust

Students aiming for a Russell Group university were set up to fail by a pathways college – but then passed anyway, says Donald Short

Interim policy that allows students with overseas offers to study domestically instead may turn long term

Denying that people have the potential to succeed before offering them any training contradicts what education is all about, says Elisa Stephens

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting attacks cap on medical school places that has led to institutions catering solely to students from overseas 

More than half of school-leavers in the capital enter higher education, but fewer than one in three do elsewhere

Institutions’ marketing approach should be to inform would-be students about the full range of degrees on offer, says Pat Moores

Recent figures also show that the attainment gap is growing

As tuition discounting hits record rates, nation’s higher education leaders feel need to end confusion over their net prices before lawmakers try to do it

The department’s threat to ban international students from all but the top UK universities is totally counterproductive, says Nick Hillman

Return of grants after almost a decade of loans could create an enrolment surge in an already straining system

Hepi report says long, free-form format is ‘incompatible’ with fair admissions code and calls for switch to short-response questions

Articulating numerical goals can focus efforts, commentators say, but not always in the right direction

Leading institutions are not ‘lining their pockets’ by shifting recruitment to international students, says analysis, and situation for less prestigious campuses is even worse

What the country really needs is a common school and evaluation system that compensates for background inequalities, says Gowhar Rashid Ganie

Universities told to spend 5 per cent of total income on equality programmes after report finds UN 2030 goal ‘highly unlikely’ to be met

All but tiny minority of population qualify for enrolment under ‘economically weaker’ label

Leading civil rights figure in US higher education questions assertions by Supreme Court justices that ending legacy advantages could be a reasonable response to their expected ban on affirmative action

Nearly two dozen British institutions now accept a test that allows Chinese high schoolers taking domestic curriculum to apply to universities abroad