{"id":873,"date":"2018-12-17T18:47:29","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T18:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=873"},"modified":"2019-01-17T18:57:07","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T18:57:07","slug":"unconditional-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/12\/17\/unconditional-love\/","title":{"rendered":"UNCONDITIONAL LOVE"},"content":{"rendered":"

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, described them on 26 July as ‘completely irresponsible’ and called on the OfS to take action. The VCs at Brunel, Buckingham, Chichester, Hertfordshire, King’s College London and the West of England led the signatories to a letter in the Times on 20 November, regretting that the practice was ‘detrimental to the longer-term interests of students, skews university choices and reduces the motivation and quality of sixth-form life in schools.’ Signatories particularly disliked so-called ‘unconditional if firm’ offers, also called ‘conditional unconditional’ offers, where universities put students under pressure by dangling an unconditional offer in front of them… but only if they pick that university as their firm choice, not their insurance choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lancaster is unlikely to sign up to such sentiments – because business is booming in ‘unconditional if firm’ offers here! For some of our departments, the overwhelming majority of offers are now ‘unconditional if firm’, and as our admissions team will doubtless point out, they seem to work, especially when it comes to persuading applicants to choose us in preference to a close rival.<\/span><\/p>\n

This competitive advantage only works if we’re doing it and our competitors are not, of course, and UCAS’s 2018 end-of-cycle report, published on 29 November, suggests that we’re fast approaching a no-score draw:<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.ucas.com\/data-and-analysis\/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports\/ucas-undergraduate-end-cycle-reports\/2018-end-cycle-report<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

It seems that 14% of offers made for 2018 entry were unconditional, this being made up of 7.1% genuinely unconditional offers and 6.9% ‘unconditional if firm’ offers. Overall, 34.4% of applicants received at least one unconditional offer last year. In a conclusion due to be filed alongside that technical report on ‘things bears do in the woods’, UCAS has found that ‘applicants who hold an unconditional offer as their firm choice are more likely to miss their predicted A level grades by 2 or more points, compared to those who are holding a conditional offer as their firm choice.’<\/span><\/p>\n

It pains subtext that Lancaster is one of the pioneers of this coercive approach to recruitment; but it seems likely that we won’t be allowed to do it for much longer anyway. Last year, Swansea University published the following statement on its website, aimed at its 2018 applicants, and we really couldn’t have put it better ourselves:<\/span><\/p>\n

‘Universities typically indicate that they are making an unconditional offer because they have been favourably impressed with the candidate’s application. As flattering as it can be to receive such an offer, we would suggest that you consider why a University is behaving in this way. In this situation you are being invited to enroll on a degree programme without having to demonstrate prior achievement or a relevant base of subject knowledge. This says quite a lot about the University and their lack of confidence in being able to attract strong students.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Miaow! This statement is no longer on Swansea’s website – we wonder why?! – but is still available via the magic of the Google cache.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … 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":[440,386,212,450,451],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-issue-184","tag-recruitment","tag-student-numbers","tag-ucas","tag-unconditional-offers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-e5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1004,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/05\/23\/unconditionally-unacceptable\/","url_meta":{"origin":873,"position":0},"title":"UNCONDITIONALLY UNACCEPTABLE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 23 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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 use of 'conditional unconditional' offers, where your offer is only\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":1414,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/10\/28\/lutext-lost-found\/","url_meta":{"origin":873,"position":1},"title":"LUText Lost & Found","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 28 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Whilst Lancaster has thus far avoided any of the scenes that have blighted some of our Mancunian fellow-institutions (as far as we are aware, none of Lancaster's students have been forced to remain within their accommodation by Security), we are not above charging self-isolating students \u00a317.95 per day for food\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "lu text lost and found"","block_context":{"text":"lu text lost and found","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/lu-text-lost-and-found\/"},"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":873,"position":2},"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":818,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/08\/subtext-182-better-late-than-ever\/","url_meta":{"origin":873,"position":3},"title":"subtext 182 – \u2018better late than ever\u2019","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 8 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, staff survey, unions, lusu, fascists, academies, musicians' co-op, all workers are men, fire, offshoring, buses, widden, eating, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL In days gone by vice-chancellors used to boast about\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":289,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/01\/18\/shart-attack-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":873,"position":4},"title":"SHART ATTACK","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"January 18 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"FROM: Lord Rod E.L. Girdle, Pro-Chancellor, Lune Valley Enterprise University. TO: Mike M. Shart, VC, Lune Valley Enterprise University (LuVE-U). DATE: 13\/1\/2018, 03:45AM SUBJECT: New Appointment Mike, I trssust your well. Listen I\u2019m just art a gatheringt in London, and who shouild I run into but Toby Young? I have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "shart attack"","block_context":{"text":"shart attack","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/shart-attack\/"},"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":873,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","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=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":874,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}