Controls on the number of undergraduates that universities could admit were lifted in 2015, and some experts fear that they now take as many as possible to maximise income Chris Ison/Press AssociationUnconditional offers to study at some of Britain’s leading universities have more than doubled in the past five years, figures suggest, prompting claims of a “free for all” as they fight to fill places. The lifting of controls in 2015 to allow universities to admit as many undergraduates as they could has led to accusations that they have become like businesses. Many are preparing to drastically lower their grade requirements for students who enter clearing after A-level results next week. Alan Smithers, director of the centre of education and employment at Buckingham University, the oldest of the country’s five private universities, told The Daily Telegraph: “[Universities] feel they can maximise their income by expanding places. But if they overexpand, the risk is that it will…

Source: The Times August 12, 2017 00:22 UTC