This involves reducing the entry requirements for the majority of its undergraduate courses by one grade. Although some programmes will not have their requirements lowered, these include: Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Physiotherapy – courses that are subject to external regulation.

The move is designed to support sixth-form students who have experienced unprecedented interruption to their studies over the past six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and still face much uncertainty regarding their upcoming exams, particularly following the announcement by the Education Minister for Wales Kirsty Williams that Welsh school pupils will not sit A-level or GCSE exams this academic year. This change should also help to prevent these students from being unfavourably compared to any who sat their exams before the pandemic, or future cohorts.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University Professor Sir David Eastwood said: ‘We recognise the need to adapt our admissions approach for this year given the extraordinary disruption affecting these students and their schools and the fact that many are likely to experience more than a year of interrupted learning by the time they sit their exams next summer.’ 

‘Reducing the entry requirements for almost all of our programmes by one grade will, we hope, alleviate some of the anxieties and ensure that anyone who chooses to apply to study at the University of Birmingham is given the best opportunity to succeed in that ambition.’

The university’s move to help alleviate stress and compensate for the extreme disruption many have experienced to their education is expected to encourage other universities to follow suit.

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