University entrance qualifications

It is an absolute disgrace that some of Britain`s "most prestigious universities" are failing to recognise "vocational qualifications" like BTecs (Elite universities "snub student BTecs", 28.01.18).How can the country ever aspire to any sort of social mobility existing when universities create yet another barrier in the way of poorer students being accepted into the so-called "top" universities.

       What these universities should be doing, however, is to insist that all the A-level qualifications have been achieved in the same way, by studying courses with teachers who do not set the examination questions, or mark the finished papers. This is not the case in many public schools, where the Pre-U examinations are taken. It was only when the cheating  scandal broke last summer that these examinations surfaced, and when the education select committee questioned the head of Eton, it was revealed that seven of his current staff were involved in setting Pre-U examination questions, and marking papers, which Eton`s pupils were taking instead of traditional A-levels. A teacher who knows the questions in advance does not need to share them with the pupils to be giving them an unfair advantage; that will come from the emphasis in the teaching.

  Not only is the existence of this alternative route into university totally unfair, the fact that the examinations are run by Cambridge Assessment International Education, which is not only part of Cambridge University, but also is not a member of the Joint Council for Qualifications, the body responsible for examination regulation and inspection, casts huge doubt on the  integrity of Pre-U exams.

     Not only are these universities making it more difficult for students from "white working class or ethnic minority families" to be accepted, they also, it seems, are making it easier for pupils in the private sector, by accepting these dubious examinations as valid qualifications for university entrance.