Cillian Shepard is to announce a review of examination standards today as controversy surr
ounding university entrance procedures brings criticism over Britain's educational performance.
The Education and Employment Secretary is worried that continuing uncertainty over a levels in particular will undermine the Government's drive to meet ambitious targets for improvement. She postponed an announcement until this year's candidates had received their results, but is now determined to clear the air.
Mrs. Shepard's main advisers on schools have already asked her to sanction a 100,000 research project, comparing papers over the past 20 years. But she is expected to go further.
Reports of universities admitting A-level failures to foundation courses will be referred to officials carrying out a review of higher education. Further research will focus on school examinations.
Mrs. Shepard returned {mm holiday last week to find critics chiming that a seventh successive rise in pass rates indicated falling standards at A level, while new vocational equivalents had an alarming drop-out rate. Since then, she has become embroiled in controversy over higher education admissions, insisting that it was not the role of universities to prepare students for degree courses.
Yesterday a retired mathematics lecturer said he had been ordered to admit students to a foundation course after rejecting: them for a degree, David Smalley, who teaches part-time at Brunel University in west London, said many of the students who were accepted subsequently would never be capable of degree-level mathematics.
Mr. Smalley said a course for those without the necessary grades to study science had been set up earlier than planned when undergraduate recruitment dried up. He had been told to approach potential students from a pile of rejected applications.
A university spokeswoman said students entering Brunel's foundation courses in science and engineering had an average of two Cs at A level, enough to win a place on many degree courses. Half of the first in take in engineering secured upper second class degrees alter passing the foundation year.
But Mr. Smalley said he was convinced standards had plummeted since the introduction of pre-degree courses. "We have had one or two success stories on them, but others could not add fractions. Some of the work would make your hair curl".
Ian Wood, who set up Brunel's first foundation course, m engineering, said some older lecturers found it difficult to adapt to teaching less able students. He added: "This year 26 students out of 60 got through a foundation year and one ended up with a first-class degree. I am sure there are spurious courses elsewhere put on just to bump up numbers, but our standards are high".
The Higher Education Funding Council for England said it had no reason to question standards on foundation courses.
Who is Gillian Shepard？
A．She is an official.
B．She is president of a university.
C．She is an educator.
D．She is president of a country.
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