A “difficult to implement” pledge to automatically give all very high achieving A-level pupils an interview for Oxbridge suggests that the front runner to be the UK’s next prime minister has too narrow a view of higher education, critics have said.
Tory leadership favourite Liz Truss told the Sunday Times that every pupil who gets three A*s in their exams should be offered an interview by the universities of Oxford or Cambridge as part of a bid to improve social mobility.
Such a scheme would require a switch to Post-Qualification Admissions (PQAs), whereby pupils apply to university after they have received their exam results, something Ms Truss said she would also “look at” changing for the sector as a whole, despite the Department for Education deeming a similar idea “no longer a priority” just six months ago.
