Conditional unconditional offers aren’t just a moral hazard – they have a demonstrable and significant impact on the continuation and attainment of students.
That’s the argument the Office for Students would clearly like to make. As we saw back in 2020 with the first phase of this project, this isn’t quite as cut and dried as some might like. I spotted at the time that the analysis offered a timely – if unplanned – critique of the dangers of admission via clearing.
As things turned out – the offer-making question is moot. Conditional unconditional offers were formally banned during the pandemic, and are now non grata via agreement with a Universities UK statement. For these reasons, this is probably the last version of such analysis. But what is to come?
