No English GCSE ? No Maths GCSE ? Then no student loan

[johnofgwent]

I would have tought that a minnimum requiremnt for anywon wanting too go to univeresity

The really sad thing is, it was, and still is, in the University I attended, and the institution that reformed after the demise of the group.

My own academic results were not quite what was predicted owing mainly to the near nervous breakdown the stress of my girlfriend's friends suicide thanks to a bunch of ass hole Bible bashers ... But in 1976 few allowances were made for such trivialities, if you weren't hard enough to deal with it, screw you was the basic start point

Clearing, however, revealed to me the reality of what the system at that time actually entailed.

The University of Wales paid lip service to UCAS by offering degree subjects matching the UCAS classification system eg 2900 was "single honours biochemistry" but in reality every student admitted in their first year was actually placed on course 3800 General Honours. 

This meant that anyone attending the first year could study three subjects and transfer to their chosen subject at the end of the first year.

The sting in the tail was that across the whole university of Wales conglomerate, the degree courses were matriculated in two stages, You sat an exam at the CAA end of year one, and that counted as part of the pass mark for your final degree award. The sting was that NO person failing to achieve pass parks in the end year one exams that did not constitute the award there and then of a third class degree were DENIED access to proceed to the second and third years.

This meant if you sat on your arse in the bar all year you got thrown onto the street at the end of it.

Sadly some politics students destined for Trade Union Leadership or Candidacy as Socialist Workers or National Association of International Socialist Students (as Cardiff's NUS President was) found that what this ALSO meant is if you worked your arse off for six months you could amass enough knowledge to pass your social science first year exams with enough marks to get that third class pass, and then spend the next two years doing F@@@ all as a student union hack.

In my own case, a score of 98% in biochemistry, 99% in chemistry and 65% in zoology earned me an end of term oral interview. I was puzzled, because I knew I had far exceeded the admission target but it turned out Professor Dodgson and Professor Hillard wished to arm wrestle me to switch to the Biochem Single Honours and Chemistry Single Honours courses respectively and each wanted to know why my lack of achievement in Zoology. 

I chose the Biochem degree, and told both the straight truth regarding the Zoology third subject: To achieve the high nineties scores in the two subjects I absolutely needed, something had to give...

On reflection maybe I should have taken Prof Gillsrds offer but hey....

The minimum requirements for course 3800 were five GCSE "O" levels at a minimum of grade 3, and a pass in the university's own foundation year entrance exam if you had no 'A' levels.

Yes, the university ran a year long course over FOUR terms including the summer holiday like the Medical and Dental School not three like everyone else. There were quite a few takers for this route, almost all were mature students who flunked school got a job and now sought academic achievement in later adult life. The programme was launched to rival the offerings of the Open University, providing what was hoped to be flexibility of entry qualifications with a more formal course structure.

It is fair to say quite a few students chose the path I did to gain access to university at clearing level and the fact is in science and engineering subjects ALL were in the top quartile of second year entry. The same cannot be said of arts subjects ....

When my youngest sought university entry, the federal structure of the former University of Wales lay in ruin, largely thanks to the financial skulduggery of the principal of my own Alma Mater in allowing phony qualifications from African, Eastern European and Asian Overseas students and quite seriously dodgy cash for degree scams, but the new organisation that took its place operated several courses where entrance was by portfolio. The university offered a single year where the course was free of tuition and other fees, but no government backed student loans or grants were available, and successful completion of that first year got you a "foundation level degree" award that was, in effect, your entry ticket to the degree courses proper 

So in a sense this restriction is no more than a return to how things were in the 70s...

[cromwell]

Does that mean the recently announced degree  means you should go and get a proper job and put such ideas behind you?
https://www.staffs.ac.uk/news/2021/12/oh-yes-it-is-university-launches-worlds-first-panto-degree

[T00ts]

I would have tought that a minnimum requiremnt for anywon wanting too go to univeresity

   

[Streetwalker]

I would have tought that a minnimum requiremnt for anywon wanting too go to univeresity 

[T00ts]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-60491719

A bloody good thing, I think. If you can't string two sentences together and can't add up, go get a job and the Guardian with little tosspot crybaby Jones (whatever did come of him??)

Long overdue. Tony Blair's government wasn't it that decided that everyone should go to Uni if they wanted? What happened? The Unis made courses that the less able could manage and at the same time Poly's turned into Unis again providing mickey mouse courses. As a result we have had loads of young adults waving useless degrees expecting top jobs with top money. Many not prepared to take jobs that they considered beneath them consequently struggled. It was unfair to them. It said to them that no matter what they studied it would give them greater riches. Many course made them unemployable. It was the biggest education con.

[johnofgwent]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-60491719

A bloody good thing, I think. If you can't string two sentences together and can't add up, go get a job and the Guardian with little tosspot crybaby Jones (whatever did come of him??)