英國大學反駁教育不公論大綱

Forcing universities to admit rising numbers of teenagers with lower entry grades risks setting them up to “fail”, one of Britain's most prestigious institutions has warned.

In an unprecedented intervention, St Andrews University in Scotland said it was “utterly dishonest” to dumb down admissions requirements to create a more socially-balanced student body.

Problems with children’s upbringing and schooling were to blame for a lack of working-class students claiming places at the country’s elite universities, it was claimed.

Stephen Magee, St Andrews’ vice-principal with responsibility for admissions, said that politicians could not continue to “lay responsibility for widening access solely at the door of universities”.

It represents the strongest criticism yet levelled by an individual university towards policies designed to force institutions to boost access to students from the poorest families.

SNP ministers in Edinburgh are demanding that Scottish universities sign new “outcome agreements” that will see them given public funding on the condition they agree to “widen access”.

It reflects a similar process in England where universities have been forced to draw up targets to boost the number of disadvantaged students admitted each year in return for retaining the power to charge up to £9,000 in tuition fees.

Prof Les Ebdon, head of the Government’s Office for Fair Access, has told the most sought-after universities to set the most “stretching” targets.

Speaking at a conference in London on Monday, he said the overall number of poor pupils admitted into higher education had increased by a third over the last decade but insisted numbers had failed to rise at the most prestigious institutions.

Data published earlier this year by the Higher Education Statistics Agency revealed that more than half of top universities recruited fewer pupils from the very poorest families in 2010/11. Two-thirds of institutions belonging to the elite Russell Group also recruited proportionally fewer state school students.

St Andrews, whose alumni include the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, has faced fierce criticism in Scotland for admitting only 14 children from the poorest backgrounds last year.英國一家最具聲望的高校提醒稱，強迫大學接受越來越多的貧困學生入學會讓大學最終“失敗”。

位於蘇格蘭的聖安德魯斯大學表示，降低入學難度，從而使學生羣體在社會化方面更加平衡，這樣做是“完全不誠實的”。這是這所大學首次對此予以反駁。

該校表示，工薪階層的孩子能進入頂尖大學的機會少，主要是因爲孩子的養育和學校教育問題。

聖安德魯斯大學的副校長史蒂芬-麥基負責該校的招生問題。他說，政治人士不能繼續“把各階層的學生入學差距加大的問題僅僅歸咎於學校招生。”

英國有關政策規定高校要增加來自窮困家庭的學生人數，這是來自單個大學對此政策的最強有力的批評。

英國愛丁堡蘇格蘭民族黨的部長們要求蘇格蘭大學簽署新的“結局協議”，按照該協議，如果大學同意“擴大招生來源”，將得到公用基金。

這反映出在英格蘭，大學也被要求草擬目標，提高每年來自貧困家庭的大學生人數，以此保留每年收取最多九千英鎊學費的權利。

英國政府公平入學辦公室的萊斯-艾布頓教授告訴最受歡迎的各所大學，要把目標定到最高。

本週一他在倫敦出席會議時說，在過去十年，讀大學的貧困家庭學生總數增加了1/3，但他認爲在最頂尖的高校機構，這一數字沒能實現增長。

英國高等教育統計局今年早些時候公佈的數據顯示，在2010至2011年度，超過半數頂尖高校招收的貧困學生減少。最頂尖的羅素大學集團中，2/3的高校招收公立學校的學生比例減少。

聖安德魯斯大學的畢業生包括威廉王子夫婦，去年因爲僅接收了14名貧困學生而受到指責。