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Oxford University says it has accepted more than 300 students who missed their grades due to Ofqual’s marking algorithm.
Nearly 40 per cent of teachers’ estimates for A-level pupils in England were downgraded by exam boards after exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It left many students missing out on their university places, including admissions to Russell Group universities such as Cambridge and Oxford which require top grades to secure an offer.
Oxford University said it has been looking carefully at the individual circumstances of all applicants who did not meet their grades this year, and has offered places to more than 300 students despite their downgraded results.
A spokesman said the number was “far more than in previous year”.
A Level Results 2020 – In pictures
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Emily Wallace reacts as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level results
PA
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Sophie Lofthouse (left) and Hannah Walton-Hughes react as students at The Mount School, York, receive their A-Level result
PA
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
LUCY YOUNG
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Ben Millett reacts with his father (back to the camera) as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level result
PA
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Brenda Irabor, who achieved three A stars, reacts as students at Ark Globe Academy in Brixton
PA
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Emily Wallace (left) uses hand sanitiser as students at Norwich School in Norfolk receive their A-Level results
PA
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Twins Rosy (left) and Teddy Valentine react as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level result
PA
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Emily Wallace reacts as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level results
PA
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Sophie Lofthouse (right) and Hannah Walton-Hughes react as students at The Mount School, York, receive their A-Level result
PA
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Benita Stipp (centre) and Mimi Ferguson (left) react as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level results
PA
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Olivia Gaskin (centre, white top) reacts as students at Norwich School, Norwich
PA
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A sixth form student looks at her A-Level results at The Crossley Heath Grammar School, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Halifa
REUTERS
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Mimi Ferguson (left) and Benita Stipp react as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level results
PA
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Sophie Lofthouse reacts as students at The Mount School, York, receive their A-Level result
PA
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Helen Lee (left) and Sophia-Ellis Shipp bump elbows at Peter Symonds College, Winchester, as they receive their A-Level results
PA
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Sixth form students are seen after receiving their A-Level results at The Crossley Heath Grammar Schoo
REUTERS
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Lucy Young
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A sixth form student wearing a protective mask reacts after receiving her A-Level results at The Crossley Heath Grammar School
REUTERS
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Daniellle Joseph at Peter Symonds College, Winchester, receives her A-Level results
PA
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A sixth form student looks at his A-Level results at The Crossley Heath Grammar Schoo
REUTERS
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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A sixth form student is embraced after receiving her A-Level results at The Crossley Heath Grammar Schoo
REUTERS
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Twins Teddy (left) and Rosy Valentine react as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level results
PA
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
2/36
Emily Wallace reacts as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level results
PA
3/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
4/36
Sophie Lofthouse (left) and Hannah Walton-Hughes react as students at The Mount School, York, receive their A-Level result
PA
5/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
6/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
7/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
8/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
LUCY YOUNG
9/36
Ben Millett reacts with his father (back to the camera) as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level result
PA
10/36
Brenda Irabor, who achieved three A stars, reacts as students at Ark Globe Academy in Brixton
PA
11/36
Emily Wallace (left) uses hand sanitiser as students at Norwich School in Norfolk receive their A-Level results
PA
12/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
13/36
Twins Rosy (left) and Teddy Valentine react as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level result
PA
14/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
15/36
Emily Wallace reacts as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level results
PA
16/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
17/36
Sophie Lofthouse (right) and Hannah Walton-Hughes react as students at The Mount School, York, receive their A-Level result
PA
18/36
Benita Stipp (centre) and Mimi Ferguson (left) react as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level results
PA
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Olivia Gaskin (centre, white top) reacts as students at Norwich School, Norwich
PA
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A sixth form student looks at her A-Level results at The Crossley Heath Grammar School, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Halifa
REUTERS
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Mimi Ferguson (left) and Benita Stipp react as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level results
PA
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Sophie Lofthouse reacts as students at The Mount School, York, receive their A-Level result
PA
23/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
24/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
25/36
Helen Lee (left) and Sophia-Ellis Shipp bump elbows at Peter Symonds College, Winchester, as they receive their A-Level results
PA
26/36
Sixth form students are seen after receiving their A-Level results at The Crossley Heath Grammar Schoo
REUTERS
27/36
Lucy Young
28/36
A sixth form student wearing a protective mask reacts after receiving her A-Level results at The Crossley Heath Grammar School
REUTERS
29/36
Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
30/36
Daniellle Joseph at Peter Symonds College, Winchester, receives her A-Level results
PA
31/36
A sixth form student looks at his A-Level results at The Crossley Heath Grammar Schoo
REUTERS
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form pick up their A-level result
Lucy Young
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A sixth form student is embraced after receiving her A-Level results at The Crossley Heath Grammar Schoo
REUTERS
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Twins Teddy (left) and Rosy Valentine react as students at Norwich School, Norwich, receive their A-Level results
PA
“The overwhelming majority of these are UK state school candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds,” he said.
“As a result our UK state school intake this year currently stands at 67.8 per cent – an increase of 5.7 per cent compared to 2019.”
Three of its colleges, Worcester, Wadham and St Edmund Hall, have already confirmed all places offered to UK students will be secured irrespective of their A-level results.
“This year’s formal gradings are not adding to our knowledge of applicants’ ability to the extent that we could safely conclude that some of those previously selected for offers should now be denied their places,” said Wadham College warden Ken Macdonald.
In its statement, St Edmund Hall said: “To alleviate the anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the appeals process, and uphold our strong strategic commitment to access, equality and diversity in our admissions process, the college has taken the decision to make offers unconditional for all applicants whose places were not originally confirmed.”
Worcester College also confirmed it would be accepting all UK offer holders after “concerns” were expressed about the exams system.
A statement on its website said: “At Worcester we made offers in 2020 to our most diverse cohort ever, and in response to the uncertainties surrounding this year’s assessment, we have confirmed the places of all our UK offer-holders, irrespective of their A-level results.”
Data from Ofqual shows independent schools saw an increase of 4.7 per cent in the number of students securing A or A* grades from 2019, compared with 2 per cent for state schools and just 0.3 percentage points for further education colleges.
On Friday, nearly 3,000 Oxford University graduates called on the institution to show “kindness and generosity” to students whose grades had been “unexpectedly and unfairly downgraded by an algorithm”.
In an open letter, they said: “It cannot be right that bright, hard-working young people from poorer backgrounds have been denied their chance to overcome odds that were already stacked against them.”
It comes as Lord Kenneth Baker, the former Tory education secretary who oversaw the launch of GCSEs in the late 1980s, told Education Secretary Gavin Williamson that publication of GCSE results should be postponed for two weeks because of the “barely explicable downgrades” of A-levels.
“I urge the education secretary to instruct Ofqual not to release the GCSEs results this Thursday as their algorithm is flawed,” Lord Baker said in a statement.
“The A-level results have produced hundreds of thousands of unfair and barely explicable downgrades.
“They have helped smaller private schools but hit the brighter students in a poorly performing state school. It is not surprising that various parties are considering legal actions.”
In a statement issued late on Sunday, the Department for Education said it was working with Ofqual to build “as much fairness into the appeals process as possible” to help young people in “the most difficult cases”.
“Ofqual continues to consider how to best deliver the appeals process to give schools and pupils the clarity they need,” a DfE spokesman said.