St George's scheme hailed for improving access to HE

St George’s admission scheme hailed as an example of how universities can improve equal access to higher education

4 November 2009

Innovation and Skills Secretary Lord Mandelson calls for universities to look beyond A Levels to identify the aptitude and potential of all those who should benefit from a university education. And ministers hail St George’s’ adjusted criteria scheme as an example of how this can be done.

The proposal is outlined in ‘The new framework for higher education’ - a 10-15 year strategy outlining Labour’s future direction for universities. It looks at aspects of university life, from student admissions processes to research funding and focus, in an attempt to sustain university success in more challenging and competitive times.

The review sets out the Government’s approach on the major issues facing universities, including the need to make greater contributions to the economy, widening access and strengthening the UK’s research capacity.

As part of a focus on social mobility, Lord Mandelson declared that universities should look beyond A Level grades alone when allocating places and setting conditional offers. He urged universities to take pupils' school and family backgrounds into account within this process.
Ministers backed schemes already operating to aid widening participation including St George’s, University of London’s pioneering ‘adjusted criteria’ scheme. This considers student applications to study medicine in relation to the peer group within which they studied. It means that state school pupils achieving grades 60% better the average for their school are eligible for an interview for a medical course even if they don’t get the standard required straight As.

“As a specialist medical and healthcare higher education provider – an area of study notoriously difficult for people from less advantaged backgrounds to access – it is particularly important for us to undertake measures to help those from less advantaged backgrounds access higher education,” explains Kenton Lewis, Head of Widening Participation and Student Recruitment at St George’s.

As well as the adjusted criteria scheme, over the last decade St George’s has implemented a number of schemes and activities specifically to encourage social mobility. These include an application process that acknowledges attributes beyond academic attainment which make a good doctor such as insight, empathy, initiative and resilience.

Kenton explained that these schemes “level the playing field” to ensure individuals are recognised for their “intelligence, achievements and promise in the context of their background, not simply the advantages they were born into.”

He concludes: “They help give fair options to individuals who have shown immense promise despite a less privileged background and fewer educational opportunities.”

St George’s also organises outreach projects such as school visits, residential summer schools and interview coaching skills. These start with pupils as young as nine years old and reach over 3,000 state school pupils each year, to support their educational development, raise their aspirations, challenge inaccurate stereotypes and inform them of their career options.

The culmination of these initiatives has seen a rise in the proportion of students joining St George’s from state school – increasing from 53% nine years ago to over 80% today.