University applications to come after A-level results

Students will apply to university after they have taken A-levels in a major shake-up of higher education policy, the Government revealed today. Candidates currently apply for degree courses on the basis of grades their teachers predict they will get. But so many are now predicted for three As that top universities have to turn many away.

Research also shows many state school students do better than expected in final exams. As a result they lose out on

places that

would be theirs on merit at top universities including Oxford and Cambridge.

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly today said the Government will reform the system so candidates apply between ending school and starting university - a process known in education jargon as post-qualification application (PQA).

In evidence to the Commons education select committee, she said she will act once a

review of PQA options has reported later this year.

Ms Kelly has already unveiled proposals to make it easier for elite universities to spot the brightest candidates.

An education reform White Paper last week said that, as well as overall results, universities should see candidates' grades for each of the six modules that make up an A-level.

In the past PQA has always foundered because neither schools nor universities were prepared to give examiners more time to mark A-levels.