{"id":1004,"date":"2019-05-23T09:19:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T09:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=1004"},"modified":"2019-05-23T11:14:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T11:14:08","slug":"unconditionally-unacceptable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/05\/23\/unconditionally-unacceptable\/","title":{"rendered":"UNCONDITIONALLY UNACCEPTABLE"},"content":{"rendered":"

subtext readers will have seen that Lancaster was one of 23 universities ‘named and shamed’ by the Department for Education on 5 April for excessive use of unconditional offers to prospective undergraduates (see also subtext 184<\/a>). In particular, our widespread use of ‘conditional unconditional’ offers, where your offer is only made unconditional if you select us as your firm choice, was slammed by the Secretary of State, Damian Hinds MP, as ‘damaging the reputation of the institutions involved and our world-leading sector as a whole. That is why I will be writing to 23 universities, urging them to stamp out this unethical practice.’<\/span><\/p>\n

The 23 institutions are: Aston; Birmingham; Birmingham City; Bournemouth; Brighton; City; Derby; Hertfordshire; Keele; Kent; Kingston; Lancaster; Lincoln; Loughborough College; Middlesex; Nottingham Trent; Oxford Brookes; Roehampton; Royal Holloway; Sheffield Hallam; Staffordshire; Surrey; and West London. Perhaps we could suggest that these be listed as our true ‘competitor institutions’ in future admissions strategy meetings?<\/span><\/p>\n

The DfE statement has had an impact. Aston University reports that it ‘has taken the decision to stop making ‘conditional unconditional’ offers’:<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www2.aston.ac.uk\/study\/undergraduate\/applicants\/post-application\/unconditional-offers\/index<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Roehampton announced on 4 April that, after a review, ‘we no longer offer ‘conditional unconditional’ offers. We also continue to ensure that at every stage of the application process our admissions policies are clear, fair and in the best interests of students’:<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.roehampton.ac.uk\/general-information\/statements\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

At Lancaster, however, we’re having none of this defeatist talk. Our press release, as reported in the Lancaster Guardian, states that, ‘there are various assertions within the DfE statement that we do not recognise nor do we feel are backed up by evidence. We don’t practise ‘pressure selling’ tactics and have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from applicants about our approach to offers. We will, of course, consider all advice carefully and will continue to assess our position.’<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.lancasterguardian.co.uk\/news\/lancaster-university-defends-unconditional-offer-stance-amid-government-criticism-1-9701644<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

subtext understands that, having assessed our position, we are still intending to make conditional unconditional offers next year. Over to you, Office for Students!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

subtext readers will have seen that Lancaster was one of 23 universities ‘named and shamed’ by the Department for Education on 5 April for excessive use of unconditional offers to prospective undergraduates (see also subtext 184). In particular, our widespread … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[505,518,504,506,451],"class_list":["post-1004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-admissions","tag-issue-188","tag-office-for-students","tag-student-recruitment","tag-unconditional-offers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-gc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":873,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/12\/17\/unconditional-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":1004,"position":0},"title":"UNCONDITIONAL LOVE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 17 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The practice, widespread across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, of making unconditional offers to applicants for undergraduate degrees is attracting the displeasure of ministers, VCs and, potentially, the new Office for Students (OfS). Sam Gyimah MP, Minister of State for Universities until he became a Brexit casualty on 30 November,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":992,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/05\/23\/letters-23\/","url_meta":{"origin":1004,"position":1},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 23 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, I was interested to see Lancaster University mentioned in the news today as one of 23 universities with an unconditional offer scheme and to also read that this is based in part on references. It reminded me of someone I once knew, who had not only been offered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":875,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/12\/17\/subtext-184-lifes-an-illusion-love-is-a-dream\/","url_meta":{"origin":1004,"position":2},"title":"subtext 184 – \u2018life\u2019s an illusion love is a dream\u2019","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 17 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, unconditional offers, stansted 15, lusu referendum, shop news, lost and found, restaurant review, widden, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL At the beginning of term, subtext reported on the apparent fait accompli\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1018,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/05\/23\/subtext-188-eurobants-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":1004,"position":3},"title":"subtext 188 – ‘eurobants subtext’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 23 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often during term time (and sometimes a bit after). Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, running out of money, wellings news, atherton news, professional services conference, unconditional offers, nets, partnership quality update, fascists, cash only,\u00a0letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL The European\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":838,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/23\/hostile-environment-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":1004,"position":4},"title":"HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT UPDATE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 23 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A petition has been launched against the fees charged to non-EEA citizens working at Lancaster, and the University's (in)activity in helping those who have to pay them. Supporters note that, whilst some universities fully cover these costs, Lancaster's loan scheme fails to cover all relevant expenses and must be repaid\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":389,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/01\/universities-inc\/","url_meta":{"origin":1004,"position":5},"title":"UNIVERSITIES INC.","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As part of the series of UCU Teachout sessions being run during the strike period, Distinguished Professor Bob Jessop delivered a talk, \u2018Universities Inc\u2019, to a packed out audience at the Gregson Centre. The talk explored what Prof Jessop termed \u2018academic capitalism\u2019 and its relationship to an increased financialisation of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1027,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions\/1027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}