Chris Ramsey, head of the £37,860-a-year Whitgift School in south London, said that Russell Group institutions are increasingly giving places to 18-year-olds regardless of whether they meet their offers or not. Mr Ramsey, who chairs the universities committee at the Headmasters' and Headmistress' Conference (HMC), said that there is growing concern among schools about the practise. "The biggest gap at my schools was five grades down  from the offer admitted," he told headteachers at the an...

The Office for Students has called for universities and employers to improve degree apprenticeship opportunities so they are available to all who could benefit from them. This follows research which shows that degree apprenticeships are providing opportunities in parts of the country that are under-represented in other forms of higher education and for students who want to learn whilst they are in work later in life. Degree apprenticeships are on the increase, as more employers, colleges and uni...

A new study, by education marketing consultancy GK and Partners, claims three-quarters (75%) of sixth-formers would consider an apprenticeship more seriously if degree apprenticeships were offered in their chosen career. Almost two-thirds (63%) of the 1,051 young people interviewed also say that they would be more likely to apply for an apprenticeship if a UCAS-style format was available. At present, would be apprentices must apply to individual companies. The findings – from the first study to ...

The government should fund colleges to offer GCSE and A levels for all learners, regardless of age, to help plug the country’s skills gap, a new report suggests. In its Filling in the biggest skills gap report, the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) identifies that there are major skills shortages at levels 4 and 5 and suggests that a reason for this is a shortfall of learners progressing from levels 2 and 3. A government review of provision at level 4 and 5 is currently ongoing. The repor...

Government reforms to the curriculum and exam assessment are out of kilter with good educational practice and the wider skills and competencies that employers’ organisations like the CBI have identified as being a desirable outcome of the education system (We need an alternative to universities, 17 August). To this list can be added the fragmentation of the school system, an obsession with academies and grammar schools, school performance indicators fixed to favour progression to a limited numbe...

Universities are asking for relatively lower grades under the international GCSE than they are for the reformed GCSE, Tes can reveal. With independent schools allowed to take the IGCSE but state schools barred from doing so, the entry requirements favour some privately educated pupils over their state sector peers. The news comes on top of renewed speculation that the IGCSE may be an 'easier' course than the reformed GCSE. ‘IGCSE’ is a term used as shorthand for a family of alternative key stage...

There’s been a lot of talk of degree apprenticeships as a great alternative to university. Just this morning, education secretary Damian Hinds tweeted that there is a “huge range of opportunity” for students collecting results today, “whether it’s university, college, starting an apprenticeship or entering the world of work”. With degree apprenticeships typically paying salaries of £15,000 – £20,000, compared to annual tuition fees of £9,000, the finances make sense. Plus, you get to work in you...

The proportion of young people who think it’s important to go to university has hit a six-year low, according to a new poll. In 2013, 86 per cent of 11- to 16-year-olds surveyed by the social mobility charity the Sutton Trust thought it was important to go to university to do well – this year, those agreeing had fallen to 75 per cent. The survey results were published as students pick up their A-level results today and will learn whether or not they have got into the university course they wante...

Students from less advantaged backgrounds are grossly underrepresented in Britain’s top universities. This under-representation of certain groups is particularly pronounced in highly competitive courses such as medicine. In England, for example, 80% of medical students come from just 20% of the country’s secondary schools. This leads to a profession dominated by certain demographic groups. This imbalance isn’t just an issue of “fairness” or social equality. It is well established that UK trained...