| Sir Alan Langlands has welcomed a 6% increase in entrants this year, but has warned that students who do not complete their courses — drop-outs — remain an issue.
He added, “As recruitment numbers improve, it reinforces the requirement to raise entry standards to ensure that we recruit the highest- quality students on merit and potential.”
Universities have been ordered by the Government to widen access to encourage more people to enter higher education.
Prime Minister Tony Blair wants 50% of school leavers to achieve that level — contending that the country will need a more academically-able workforce for it to thrive in the world economy of the future.
The extension of opportunities to young people to achieve their academic potential has been generally welcomed.
Some leading figures in higher education have expressed concern, however, that some universities may be tempted to drop their entry standards to find the extra students the Government wants them to recruit.
Students who are not well-enough equipped to cope with four years of a degree course will drop out — doing no favours to themselves or to the university they attended.
Last month the Higher Education Statistics Agency predicted that 17% of Dundee University’s entrants in 2001/02 will not finish their course this year, higher than the national average of 14%.
The prediction for the University of Abertay Dundee was even higher at 30%.
The universities challenged the accuracy of the HESA table and said the predictions were guesses that did not reflect the achievement of their students. |
