The government should reintroduce student number controls in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, according to one vice-chancellor.

Chris Husbands, who leads Sheffield Hallam University, said the move would ¡°ensure that institutions have a viable first year student population¡±.

The virus outbreak has led to the government cancelling A-level exams in England, with the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments also?making the same moves. Instead, teachers will be asked to make a judgement about the grades they think their A-level students would have received, based on a range of data.

The Office for Students (OfS) reported that, following that announcement, institutions reportedly began giving students unconditional offers to secure their undergraduate population ¨C and, therefore, finances ¨C for the next year. Nicola Dandridge, the OfS¡¯ chief executive, said this was ¡°quite wrong¡± and called on institutions to stop doing so.

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Writing in a??with Natalie Day, Sheffield Hallam¡¯s head of policy and strategy, Professor Husbands welcomed this initial action ¡°to prevent poor behaviour on converting conditional to unconditional offers¡±, but added that ¡°radical action is needed on university admissions for the foreseeable future¡±.

Given the damage caused by the crisis, reintroducing student number controls, which were scrapped in 2015, would be likely to last more than one year, he said.

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This could happen ¡°either by setting institution by institution limits on admissions (as was the case until 2011) or by limiting variance to [more or less] 5 per cent for any institution against a three year average of admissions (from 2017 to 2019 inclusively),¡± according to Professor Hallam.

A story in The Guardian on 29 March claimed that an admissions cap was due to be announced ¡°within the next few days¡±, and that the board of Universities UK (UUK) had approved the move in a virtual meeting on 27 March.

However, Alistair Jarvis, the chief executive of Universities UK, tweeted that UUK¡¯s board had merely ¡°agreed to explore options for stability measures, most importantly government financial support¡±, but also included looking at the pros and cons of student number controls.

No one on the board had opposed number controls but agreed that ¡°further consideration was needed¡±.

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Professor Jarvis said that a ¡°range of measures to promote financial stability were discussed¡±. Foremost was the need for government financial support for universities that are, like other sectors, likely to take a hit from the crisis.

According to Professor Husbands and Ms Day, international student recruitment, an essential component for most universities¡¯ sustainable operations, ¡°may never recover from the body blow of a global pandemic¡±.

They also recommend universities develop ¡°a fair and appropriate model for contextual admissions¡± and also address the impact of Covid-19 on retention and progression rates.

anna.mckie@timeshighereducation.com