UK universities must take ownership of debate on post-qualification admissions (PQA) to avoid having reforms imposed on them against their will by ministers, a conference heard.

Chris Hale, director of policy at Universities UK (UUK), told a conference held by the organisation that there was in Whitehall an “appetite to look at [admissions] more radically”, but that universities should take the lead on the issue.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson has indicated that he wants to move towards a system where students choose their university place after they get their A-level grades, warning that current arrangements were “letting down the brightest pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds” by relying on predicted grades.

UUK’s own review of admissions concluded that a system of post-qualification offers, where students apply before their exams but do not get their offers until their results are confirmed, was the most “workable, implementable” reform.

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But the government’s own consultation, launched last month, says that a more radical option, under which students would not apply until they got their results, as part of an accelerated process lasting just a few weeks, was “feasible”.

Mr Hale said that universities “can’t forget the political context of this…and I think we shouldn’t underestimate how much some of the political trust in the current system has been eroded”.

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Post-qualification admissions may not be the best answer to all the issues with the current system but “the sort of solutions to some of those problems which were identified politically have become synonymous with PQA and more radical reform”, he explained.

Emphasising universities’ autonomy on admissions, the sector “has a key role to play in leading these reforms”. “We’ve also got to work with and shape the government policy direction,” he added.

Given the appetite for reform in government, the issue “probably will be forced a little bit more than it has been”, Mr Hale continued. “The government has shown it does have an appetite to intervene where it thinks there are issues, even where there is sensitivity about institutional autonomy, as we’ve recently seen around freedom of speech.

“I think if we weren’t proactive in terms of thinking about how we can make a PQA model work and retain sector ownership over that, then there would be some risks, certainly, of this being something that is done to us.”

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Mary Curnock Cook, former chief executive of admissions service Ucas, agreed that “there are some real risks for the sector if it doesn’t come up with proposals that go some way to meeting the concerns that people have”.

But Ms Curnock Cook she said opposed post-qualification admissions for a number of reasons, including fears that pushing students’ admissions decisions into the summer would hurt poorer students, but said it was right for UUK to conduct its own analysis.

She said she feared attempts to circumvent university autonomy over admissions. “I think the politics of this are quite worrying for the sector,” Ms Curnock Cook said.

anna.mckie@timeshighereducation.com