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CHOOSING UNDERGRADUATES
1196
Annotations CHOOSING UNDERGRADUATES
RACE-HORSES, uncertain, coy, and hard to
please,
are
the prophets ; but compared with entrants to university education they are models of predictability. Those who have to assess, in advance and on short acquaintance, the likely performance of a horde of young persons wearing the muffin-like mask of adolescence, are confident-like other followers of formof their flair for picking winners. But such evidence as we possess by no means fully justifies their faith in themselves. According to a new P.E.P. broadsheet,l few studies have been made of the causes of failure of students (defined, that is, in- terms of failure to get a degree) ; but at a conference of the Home Universities last year Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders gave some results of an analysis made at the London School of Economics.
notoriously rough
on
were admitted to the school of B.sc.(Econ.). All should have taken the degree in 1952, but only 207 did so. Of the 98 who did not, however, 33 were not failures "-they transferred to other courses or withdrew for personal reasons. The remaining 65 failed at examinations at the end of their first, second, or third year. Only 1 did, in fact, fail in the third year, at the final examination. The interesting thing, however, is that, at entrance, 27 (41%) of the 65 failures were considered to be first-class, and 31 to be good ; the remaining 7 were thought to be adequate.
In
1949, 305 full-time students
to read for the
degree
A
parallel study was made by the Working Party on University Awards,2 who found that of the undergraduates of one university who took good degrees (firsts or good seconds) from 1935 to 1941, 46% would not have qualified for awards on their marks in the Higher Certificate examination. At the moment, there
available every year 2000 30 scholarships (including scholarships for mature students and 120 technical scholarships). The Ministry of Education have undertaken to supplement up to 2000 open university scholarships of an annual value of E40 or more, and so far there are 1400 of these. In addition, there are 8800 major awards by local education authorities. Of the 22,000 undergraduates entering universities in 1951-52, over 15,000 were assisted with public funds from one or other of these sources. The idea is that the university awards supplemented by the Ministry should go to outstanding students, selected by competitive examination, while the local-authority awards should provide for the good average student. Each of the 146 local education authorities decides the number of its awards, their value, and the conditions on which they are made ; but only 40% -of the money comes from local rates-the rest is provided by the Government. When it comes to deciding who is to have awards, the universities not unnaturally think that they should pick their own entrants, and that any young person who, in their opinion, is good enough to be offered a university place is also good enough to be offered a local-authority awardwhich, indeed, should come to him as a matter of course. The local authorities not unnaturally think that as they are providing nearly half the money for their awards they should have the right to say who will get them. Many make an award conditional on the candidate’s getting a university place ; but it is -not unknown (though it is unusual) for a student who has been accepted by a university to be subsequently refused an award by the local authority. Moreover, according to the local authorities, the universities are not necessarily the best pickers. P.E.P. quote a correspondent : are
State
" Local authorities are noticing an increasing number of after the first year in a university. Every reject means 1. Planning, 1953, 19, 249. Issued by Political and Economic Planning, 16, Queen Anne’s Gate, London, S.W.1. 2. Set up by the Minister of Education, 1948.
rejects
that anything between 150 and t250 has, so to speak, been thrown out of the window. In fact some local education authorities have doubts (and some of them considerable doubts) about the selection procedure of some universities."
Generally speaking the universities base their decisions the young person’s school examination performance, supplemented in some cases by his success in a college
on
his school record and testi. interview. Some of the larger universities do not attempt to interview all candidates ; the numbers seen range from 10% to 80%. Those universities which use the interview for all candi. dates prize it highly as a selection procedure. The universities themselves are the first to admit that existing entrance tests do not measure the candidate’s power of adapting himself to a new environment, a new approach to subjects, a different method of study, and the other changes implied in the transition from school to university. And again, what is success ?’? Is the final examination of the university a good enough criterion ?f P.E.P. quote a statement by the Civil Service Selection Board that the 100 candidates whom the board placed at the bottom of the 3000 they examined over a period of three years included 60 who had been university or college scholars, 20 who had held State or county scholarships, and 10 who had first-class degrees. It seems that the criteria applied in the university do not necessarily overlap with those applied elsewhere. In this puzzling situation P.E.P. come to the con. clusion-in some ways unexpected-that responsibility for selection should rest solely with the universities, and that the granting of an award should automatically follow the acceptance of a student by a university. This could be arranged, they suggest-and no doubt they are rightif the Government assumed full financial responsibility for all awards and not merely for 60% of their cost, as at present. All candidates, they say, would then have at least an equal chance of being considered for a place. They also think there might be a more liberal policy of admissions to the university followed by a more rigorous weeding-out at the end of the first year, when those unlikely to complete the course are more easily detected. (The effect of such a measure on the suicide-rate among undergraduates is a matter for speculation : it might, of course, reduce it.) But even if the grumbles of the local education authorities were thus effectually silenced, the general public would surely deserve some assurance that the best boys and girls were getting the awards, and that money was not being wasted. The universities recognise that their methods of selection fail to take into account some of the qualities which go to make a good student ; and research on selection problems is now in progress. When the results of the Nuffield Foundation and Medical Research Council inquiries are published they will no doubt influence not only techniques of selection but also the content of university courses, and methods of teaching. We must not, however, expect miracles, even then : it is most unlikely, as P.E.P. are careful to point out, that these findings will produce a single compendious test which, applied at the schoolleaving stage, will enable accurate forecasts of performance to be made."
examination, monials, and usually entrance
on
on
an
"
A HAZARD OF ANÆSTHESIA
AN endotracheal tube is generally regarded as a certain safeguard against the possibility of respiratory obstruction during anesthesia. Its everyday use has not only safeguarded many lives, but has made many operations incomparably easier-particularly those on the head and neck. Even an endotracheal tube, however, may be kinked, or, as in a recently reported fatal case,! obstructed by an inflated cuff. Anaesthetists 1.
Glasgow Evening News, Nov. 12, 1953.
Annotations CHOOSING UNDERGRADUATES
RACE-HORSES, uncertain, coy, and hard to
please,
are
the prophets ; but compared with entrants to university education they are models of predictability. Those who have to assess, in advance and on short acquaintance, the likely performance of a horde of young persons wearing the muffin-like mask of adolescence, are confident-like other followers of formof their flair for picking winners. But such evidence as we possess by no means fully justifies their faith in themselves. According to a new P.E.P. broadsheet,l few studies have been made of the causes of failure of students (defined, that is, in- terms of failure to get a degree) ; but at a conference of the Home Universities last year Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders gave some results of an analysis made at the London School of Economics.
notoriously rough
on
were admitted to the school of B.sc.(Econ.). All should have taken the degree in 1952, but only 207 did so. Of the 98 who did not, however, 33 were not failures "-they transferred to other courses or withdrew for personal reasons. The remaining 65 failed at examinations at the end of their first, second, or third year. Only 1 did, in fact, fail in the third year, at the final examination. The interesting thing, however, is that, at entrance, 27 (41%) of the 65 failures were considered to be first-class, and 31 to be good ; the remaining 7 were thought to be adequate.
In
1949, 305 full-time students
to read for the
degree
A
parallel study was made by the Working Party on University Awards,2 who found that of the undergraduates of one university who took good degrees (firsts or good seconds) from 1935 to 1941, 46% would not have qualified for awards on their marks in the Higher Certificate examination. At the moment, there
available every year 2000 30 scholarships (including scholarships for mature students and 120 technical scholarships). The Ministry of Education have undertaken to supplement up to 2000 open university scholarships of an annual value of E40 or more, and so far there are 1400 of these. In addition, there are 8800 major awards by local education authorities. Of the 22,000 undergraduates entering universities in 1951-52, over 15,000 were assisted with public funds from one or other of these sources. The idea is that the university awards supplemented by the Ministry should go to outstanding students, selected by competitive examination, while the local-authority awards should provide for the good average student. Each of the 146 local education authorities decides the number of its awards, their value, and the conditions on which they are made ; but only 40% -of the money comes from local rates-the rest is provided by the Government. When it comes to deciding who is to have awards, the universities not unnaturally think that they should pick their own entrants, and that any young person who, in their opinion, is good enough to be offered a university place is also good enough to be offered a local-authority awardwhich, indeed, should come to him as a matter of course. The local authorities not unnaturally think that as they are providing nearly half the money for their awards they should have the right to say who will get them. Many make an award conditional on the candidate’s getting a university place ; but it is -not unknown (though it is unusual) for a student who has been accepted by a university to be subsequently refused an award by the local authority. Moreover, according to the local authorities, the universities are not necessarily the best pickers. P.E.P. quote a correspondent : are
State
" Local authorities are noticing an increasing number of after the first year in a university. Every reject means 1. Planning, 1953, 19, 249. Issued by Political and Economic Planning, 16, Queen Anne’s Gate, London, S.W.1. 2. Set up by the Minister of Education, 1948.
rejects
that anything between 150 and t250 has, so to speak, been thrown out of the window. In fact some local education authorities have doubts (and some of them considerable doubts) about the selection procedure of some universities."
Generally speaking the universities base their decisions the young person’s school examination performance, supplemented in some cases by his success in a college
on
his school record and testi. interview. Some of the larger universities do not attempt to interview all candidates ; the numbers seen range from 10% to 80%. Those universities which use the interview for all candi. dates prize it highly as a selection procedure. The universities themselves are the first to admit that existing entrance tests do not measure the candidate’s power of adapting himself to a new environment, a new approach to subjects, a different method of study, and the other changes implied in the transition from school to university. And again, what is success ?’? Is the final examination of the university a good enough criterion ?f P.E.P. quote a statement by the Civil Service Selection Board that the 100 candidates whom the board placed at the bottom of the 3000 they examined over a period of three years included 60 who had been university or college scholars, 20 who had held State or county scholarships, and 10 who had first-class degrees. It seems that the criteria applied in the university do not necessarily overlap with those applied elsewhere. In this puzzling situation P.E.P. come to the con. clusion-in some ways unexpected-that responsibility for selection should rest solely with the universities, and that the granting of an award should automatically follow the acceptance of a student by a university. This could be arranged, they suggest-and no doubt they are rightif the Government assumed full financial responsibility for all awards and not merely for 60% of their cost, as at present. All candidates, they say, would then have at least an equal chance of being considered for a place. They also think there might be a more liberal policy of admissions to the university followed by a more rigorous weeding-out at the end of the first year, when those unlikely to complete the course are more easily detected. (The effect of such a measure on the suicide-rate among undergraduates is a matter for speculation : it might, of course, reduce it.) But even if the grumbles of the local education authorities were thus effectually silenced, the general public would surely deserve some assurance that the best boys and girls were getting the awards, and that money was not being wasted. The universities recognise that their methods of selection fail to take into account some of the qualities which go to make a good student ; and research on selection problems is now in progress. When the results of the Nuffield Foundation and Medical Research Council inquiries are published they will no doubt influence not only techniques of selection but also the content of university courses, and methods of teaching. We must not, however, expect miracles, even then : it is most unlikely, as P.E.P. are careful to point out, that these findings will produce a single compendious test which, applied at the schoolleaving stage, will enable accurate forecasts of performance to be made."
examination, monials, and usually entrance
on
on
an
"
A HAZARD OF ANÆSTHESIA
AN endotracheal tube is generally regarded as a certain safeguard against the possibility of respiratory obstruction during anesthesia. Its everyday use has not only safeguarded many lives, but has made many operations incomparably easier-particularly those on the head and neck. Even an endotracheal tube, however, may be kinked, or, as in a recently reported fatal case,! obstructed by an inflated cuff. Anaesthetists 1.
Glasgow Evening News, Nov. 12, 1953.