University of Bristol admissions controversy
In 2000 the Laura Spence Affair involved the rejection of a state school student who applied to study medicine at Oxford University and resulted in similar debate about widening participation.
[18] The boycott of the university was announced on 4 March 2003[19] by the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Girls' Schools Association who expressed concern that the admissions policy could lead to the "apparently arbitrary rejection of well-qualified candidates".
[26] The university denied any discrimination in the admissions process but reserved the right to take the educational background of students into account when assessing their A-level grades.
[27] In a written response to the Independent Schools Council, Vice-Chancellor Eric Thomas stated that the university did not operate a quota system for students from any particular school or social background: The university does not practice unfair discrimination, it [Bristol] does not operate quotas and it will continue to recruit exceptionally able students from all backgrounds through a selection process that is as fair and straightforward as we can make it.
Pupils, not schools, make the decisions about which universities to apply to and we are confident that they will continue to want to study at Bristol.
[16] The University of Bristol stated that it is against any kind of discrimination in the admissions process[30] and that the policy of making lower offers to exceptional students from state schools and disadvantaged backgrounds was not to satisfy the government or gain funding: There is no question of the University attempting to widen participation in order to gain Government cash.
The University is not motivated by money but by the desire to recruit the best students and by the recognition that if it is to act fairly and avoid missing out on some of the most able people, it must have regard to factors in addition to predicted A-level grades.
Gus Glover a candidate who lost that year's University of Bristol Union presidential election attributed his loss to supporting the admissions policy.
In The Times he stated "Though I have no disagreement with greater access, I would have hoped universities and the government would have a slightly more sophisticated policy than simply 'blacklisting' independent schools".
[34] Prime Minister Tony Blair commented on the controversy, stating that university should grant places on the basis of merit rather than class.
[35] He added that he wanted to see more working-class people in higher education[36] but was forced to backtrack from comments made by Margaret Hodge which argued that Universities such as Bristol should be set formal targets for widening access.
[42][43] The boycott ended on 29 April 2003 when the chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference expressed satisfaction with the admissions policy for Bristol.
[47] In 2009 Bristol rejected giving a "head start" to applicants to disadvantaged backgrounds as part of a scheme proposed by Lord Mandelson.
[52] In 2012 the university introduced a points based admissions system whereby poorer students “will be given an automatic weighting to their total academic score”.
[53] During the 2012/13 admissions cycle all undergraduate courses used some form of contextual data but the university has refused to state exactly how their scoring system works.
