Leading academics at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) are defending their increasing use of conditional unconditional offers to University applicants.
The number of unconditional offers being given to University hopefuls nationwide has been on the steady increase in recent years.
In 2019, 75,845 unconditional offers were awarded to applicants across the country through the application service UCAS.
This was a noticeable increase from 67,915 in the previous academic year.
However, NTU have recently introduced their new offer of a conditional unconditional.
This offer is an unconditional, but only if the applicant lists that University as their firm choice.
Many people disagree with this new offer as it may encourage students to accept an offer they don’t necessarily want out of fear of failing their exams.
However the Vice Chancellor of NTU, Edward Peck, has supported the idea of these offers, saying that they have a “minimal effect” on students.
In a report published by Wonkhe, NTU offer the figures for the number of unconditional offers they give out, and how this impacts students’ grades.
In the 2018/19 academic year, those that received an unconditional offer were more likely to receive the top grades in their first year of study.
NTU also stated that their provision of conditional unconditional offers had a minimal effect on applicants missing out on their predicted grades.
You can read the full report here.
By Faith Pring