Post-Qualification Applications

Both the government’s options set out in the DfES’s consultation on post-qualification applications to higher education were rejected by the majority of those who responded to the consultation. (One option was to have everyone wait for their results before places were offered; the other would involve have conditional offer based on prior record rather than predictions, with a set number of places reserved until after results were known.)

Nevertheless, the government issued a response to the consultation making a number of recommendations for implementation in 2008/09 with a view to working towards post-qualification applications by 2012.
The government’s summary of their response is given below; the full response can be viewed by clicking here.

Although UK-wide, this seems to be aimed more at an English problem than a Scottish one. If PQA were introduced, it would have particular implications in Scotland given the earlier summer holidays, (eg, it may be that teachers would have to come in during the holidays to offer guidance to their students) while possibly not improving the higher education application process significantly.