Professor Steven Schwartz: Reforms will be useful

The head of a taskforce set up to look at university admissions, Professor Steven Schwartz, says the proposals for a new diploma look promising.

He says greater differentiation between grades at the highest level would help universities pick the brightest students.

And the diploma would help universities to recognise the achievements of students who have been doing vocational studies.

Professor Schwartz told BBC News Online: "It would give a higher profile and greater recognition to vocational courses.

"At the moment universities have problems dealing with vocational qualifications but it sounds as if they would be explained and presented in a way which would increase a student's chances of getting into university."

Professor Schwartz, who is leading the Admissions to Higher Education Steering Group, set up by the government, is also the vice-chancellor of Brunel University.

He believes the exam proposals, put forward by Mike Tomlinson, would help universities differentiate between top candidates - and prevent the need for them to set their own extra tests.

There is a suggestion that A-levels might be re-graded, from a five-point to a six or seven-point scale.

Last year more than 21% of entries at A-level were awarded an A, which includes marks from 80% to 100%.

University tests

Professor Schwartz said: "A lot of universities find it very difficult and complain there are so many students who seem equally well-qualified."

He said the most popular universities might find the greater differentiation useful and he hoped this might stop more introducing their own tests.

"Everyone is concerned that universities are bringing in their own tests.

"This has an impact on access because many students can't afford to pay to take tests in different places."

One area he hoped Mike Tomlinson's final report would cover when released in the autumn was that of the timing of exams and results.