Universities are in fierce competition for the brightest students this year.

As universities across the country begin to give out offers to applicants, several top universities have revived the practice of ‘unconditional’ offers.

Institutions including the University of Birmingham, Queen Mary, University of London, Nottingham and Leicester have all increased the number of unconditional offers given out this year – apparently to attract the top-performing A-Level students. Queen’s University, Belfast, has also tried to draw in students with grades of AAB from mainland Britain with the promise of £1,750 per year, flights home, cinema passes, gym memberships and free upgrades to en-suite accommodation.

This comes as record numbers of students apply to university despite the tuition fee increase, and amid calls from the University of Oxford for the £9,000 ceiling on fees to be removed. Research has shown that almost all students who applied to university received a place in the last year.

These enticements are set to become commonplace, in spite of criticism from the Higher Education Policy Institute. The removal of the cap on the number of students with A-Level results equivalent to ABB or above that can be enrolled by UK universities has meant that the already competitive marketplace for students is now even more so, for universities looking to recruit the highest-achieving students.

Unconditional offers were at one time common practice in the Oxbridge admissions process, as it was felt that extensive entrance exams and interviews gave admissions tutors a sufficient insight into applicants’s abilities to confidently offer places.

However, significant reform of the Oxbridge admissions process throughout the 1980s saw a reduction in entrance exams – bringing Oxbridge into line with the majority of British universities in giving out conditional offers. “The collegiate university prefers offer holders to demonstrate their ability through public examinations. Some unconditional offers are made to post-qualification applicants who have already completed their sixth-form studies”, said a spokesperson for the University of Cambridge.

However, other top universities may be drawing students away from Oxbridge.
The University of Leicester plans to give out unconditional offers on the largest scale during the current round of applications. A spokesperson said that they were “making unconditional offers in most subjects across the university” to “candidates predicted AAA* or equivalent”. They added that the university has had “overwhelmingly positive feedback so far.”

The University of Birmingham was the first to try this out last year, resulting in 1,000 unconditional offers being given out across 12 courses. 300 applicants took up places at the university on the back of these offers. This change in recruitment approach corresponded with a 15-place jump up the rankings for the University of Birmingham last year, according to the Guardian University Guide. For universities, it seems that attracting more top applicants with unconditional offers can translate into academic success.

As this trend increases, more high-ranking universities are likely to take up this practice, and could draw the highest-performing students out of the marketplace.