Universities Paying £10,000 to Sign Up Bright Students

By Graeme Paton and Alex Binley / The Telegraph

LONDON - Dozens of institutions outside the academic elite are making lucrative offers to applicants with the best A-level grades, irrespective of their household income, it emerged.

The awards – for students starting degrees in 2013 – normally include substantial discounts on tuition fees or cash contributions towards living costs.

Some universities are offering applicants guaranteed places in halls of residence and even free laptops or membership of sports clubs.

Institutions offering deals include Aston, Bournemouth, Brunel, Coventry, De Montfort, Edge Hill, Essex, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicester, Northumbria, Roehampton, the Royal Agricultural College, Salford, Surrey and Wolverhampton.

City University London is offering awards of between £3,000 and £9,000 over three years depending on students’ A-level grades and chosen undergraduate course.

Newman University College in Birmingham said it was offering £10,000 for all students who achieve three B grades or better in their A-levels.

Newcastle University’s school of electrical and electronic engineering offers scholarships of up to £2,000-a-year plus a laptop, while Surrey University promises a £3,000 cash award alongside free sports club membership to students with straight As.

In most cases, these scholarships are not means-tested but depend on students naming particular universities as their “firm choice” on UCAS application forms.

The disclosure appears to underline the lengths universities are being forced to go to in an attempt to fill places following a backlash over the near tripling of tuition fees to a maximum of £9,000-a-year.

Earlier this month, England’s Higher Education Funding Council found that university finances were under pressure after an “unexpected fall” in admissions rates.

Overall numbers were an average of 2.1 per cent lower than universities’ own forecasts, it emerged. Some 57,000 fewer undergraduates started courses across the country this year.

In a report, the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies said “lower-ranked” universities were now increasingly likely to use cash incentives to attract students.

“Support for high-achieving students has become more generous across all types of institutions, particularly lower-ranked ones,” it said. “This may be at least partly a response to the new admissions system... It may result in high-achieving students being attracted to lower-ranked universities by the promise of more financial support in the short-term.”

Previously, the number of students recruited by each university was subject to strict Government caps.

But the Coalition has partially lifted controls to allow institutions to take unlimited numbers of students with the best A-level grades. In 2012, they could recruit more undergraduates with AAB grades, while next year the measures extend to those with at least ABB.

The move has triggered intense competition to sign up these students to prevent them being tempted to rival universities.

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said high-achieving students were “in demand by universities and there are a wide variety of scholarships and other financial inducements being offered to them.”

“Universities have offered merit-based scholarships for many years, so the concept is not new,” she said, adding that UUK was currently undertaking research into the impact of bursary and scholarship packages on university application trends.

But Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said cash for bright students may come at the expense of means-tested support for the poorest.

“Some universities are now pulling out all the stops to secure students with the highest grades,” she added.

“Students considering university next year should be attracted to the courses that best suit their talents, not by financial incentives.”
 
But Deborah Streatfield, a London-based careers adviser, doubted that scholarships acted as a significant draw, adding that applicants “intensively study league tables of university rankings and subject ranking and never look at the financial incentives on offer.” 


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