Top UK universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, are moving away from traditional examinations in favor of “inclusive assessments” aimed at improving grades for students from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds. These measures, however, are being criticized as "dumbing down" education being taught to students.
The measures proposed by the universities would include practices such as open-book tests and take-home papers. These proposals were revealed under the institutions’ Access and Participation Plans (APPs), which are released each year by universities according to their registration conditions. These plans show how the university is helping students from “disadvantaged groups,” according to a report by the Telegraph.
The University of Oxford’s APP highlighted the use of a more “diverse and inclusive range of assessments” to help “improve the likelihood” of students from “lower socio-economic backgrounds” getting better grades. Similarly, the University of Cambridge identified traditional exam formats as a potential factor behind “awarding gaps” and committed to “improve outcomes” for black-British and British-Bangladeshi students. The documents described traditional exams as “threats to self-worth.”
These efforts are being supported by the Office for Students (OFS), as pressure has persisted for universities to address disparities in degree classifications. According to the Telegraph, OFS data has found that there is an 11 percent gap in achieving at least a 2:1 degree between “advantaged and disadvantaged students” and a 22 percent gap between white and black students.
The initiative has faced sharp criticism. In a statement to the Daily Mail, Tory MP Richard Holden reacted by saying, “This knee-jerk and patronizing approach to dumbing down university education serves no one. Children from every background can thrive in a highly rigorous academic environment.” Former Tory education minister John Hayes described the changes as “deeply insulting” to minority students and warned such changes would “undermine the integrity of the assessment process.
A spokesperson for the OFS commented on the situation, saying, “Through APPs, we encourage universities to consider whether their assessments are working properly for all students because we know that some students are more likely to attain lower grades than their peers, even when their prior academic performance is the same.”
“Where there is evidence that current assessment models may not be fair, it is appropriate for universities to trial and evaluate changes in the way they grade students,” the spokesperson added.
