Should Oxford and Cambridge expand?

A TSR user suggested yesterday - due to the overwhelming numbers of applicants to these two institutions - that more constituent colleges should be built, in order to accept more of those well-suited to the system there. Indeed, the universities themselves admit that they are forced to turn down candidates who they believe would flourish immensely on their course. With 3% of A level students getting AAA application numbers are growing rapidly, and soon enough many conjecture that each course will have at least fifteen applicants per place.

Should they therefore expand?

A TSR user suggested yesterday - due to the overwhelming numbers of applicants to these two institutions - that more constituent colleges should be built, in order to accept more of those well-suited to the system there. Indeed, the universities themselves admit that they are forced to turn down candidates who they believe would flourish immensely on their course. With 3% of A level students getting AAA application numbers are growing rapidly, and soon enough many conjecture that each course will have at least fifteen applicants per place.

Should they therefore expand?

Is it really that few ?!?

absolutely not. the more students you admit the more diluted standards become; our higher education system is a mess, with many sub-standard universities. our elite universities must remain exactly that - elite.

What evidence do you have to support that? Also, are you judging all universities against an absolute standard? I'm not attacking you, just interested.

I suppose what I'm saying is that there is no common standard. For example, a first from Oxbridge is much harder to obtain than a first from say Oxford Brookes, Thames Valley or Leeds etc. It should be equally hard to get a first or a 2.1 regardless of university - the fact is, it isn't.

a first from Oxbridge is much harder to obtain than a first from say Oxford Brookes, Thames Valley or Leeds etc.

..Did you just put Leeds in the same category as Oxford Brookes and TVU?

..Did you just put Leeds in the same category as Oxford Brookes and TVU?

Well, that is an alluring proposition, I agree, but we need to assume that such a policy is possible. I don't believe that it ever could be. Difficulty is such a slippy concept. There's a strong argument that one Oxford student may find getting a first much easier than another Oxford student, for example, simply because of the way his tutorials are, increased motivation etc. Things are only difficult if one finds them hard: the concept is not an objective one.

If a first-class degree (and tuition) from every single university were to match the assumed gold standard of Oxbridge, we would have a lot of erudite people who would have to, due to the nature of our economy, accept low-skilled jobs.