By Dr Helen Stringer
Headmistress
Northampton High School
WORKING, as I do, with young women preparing for university and the world of work, I am often called upon to give advice about applications and the best routes into rewarding employment.
Three major developments in the last few years – the globalisation of higher education, the introduction of university tuition fees and new-style A Levels – have altered beyond recognition the nature of the HE landscape and, with it, the guidance students need from schools in order to negotiate the process successfully.
The globalisation of HE has opened up new vistas for our students – if they choose to look at them. This is particularly exciting for the highest achievers. Oxford and Cambridge now attract the best scholars from around the globe. And so do elite universities overseas. The example of a recent High School leaver who landed a Woodruff Scholarship for Liberal Arts at Emory in Atlanta shows what can be done, with the right guidance, by ambitious students who want to look beyond our borders.
The flip side of this is that competition from international students has intensified pressure on places at Britain’s elite universities. Across the country last year, 19 per cent of the undergraduate population came from overseas. At the LSE, the figure was 68 per cent. Sixth-form students and their parents, therefore, should look for guidance in schools that addresses a broader competitive field than in the past.
Excellent A Level grades are, in this context, necessary but not sufficient. This is why, at the High School, we take a ‘portfolio approach to a portfolio world’. Students build individually-tailored programmes, adding elective courses, Extended Project Qualifications (EPQs), Mass Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and experiential or service strands to their A Levels to add breadth and depth to their profile.
While the impact of global mobility has been notable, it pales into insignificance compared with the disruption caused by the introduction of tuition fees. The shift from a providers’ to a buyers’ market has heralded changes that no one fully predicted and which have left many schools struggling to play catch-up.
Though the number of students choosing to go to university has not declined, increasing interest in apprenticeships (including degree apprenticeships, up by 27 per cent last year) is expected to have a knock-on effects in the near future and all good sixth-form guidance now must include advice on these routes. Target-driven admissions departments are increasingly using unconditional offers to lure candidates to make a firm commitment, rendering the process of managing offers even more complex. Students now need an inside track on the tactics of offer management and expert advice on navigating the terrain of post-results adjustment from a savvy Director of Sixth Form.
Finally, A Level reform. Here, the full effects are still unfolding but some key developments are already clear. The demise of AS Levels as a halfway stage to A Level has put a new pressure on GCSE results as a benchmark against which admissions tutors can make their judgement. Students – and schools – should now be treating the pre-HE preparation phase as a four-year rather than a two-year process, with GCSEs in the middle.
Some of the highest-ranking universities have resorted to aptitude tests as a selection tool and more elite institutions are likely to go down this route, with all that this implies in terms of preparation and practice for the student. Access to intelligence on emerging trends and a rich evidence base of relevant case histories in schools have now become a vital part of any good school’s armoury in helping students steer through today’s pre-HE labyrinth.
Further reading: Informed Choices published by Russell Group:
www.russellgroup.ac.uk/media/5272/informedchoices-print.pdf
The Which? University Guide (which contains information about degree apprenticeships as well as conventional courses):
For more information about Northampton High School, see the website www.northamptonhigh.gdst.net or call the Registrar, Amanda Wilmot, on 01604 765765 or email