A group of universities will introduce so-called “name blind” admissions processes for some courses next year, to test whether masking students’ names can eliminate racial bias.
The Exeter, Huddersfield, Liverpool and Winchester universities will run the trials for students starting in September 2017 to find out whether it makes admissions fairer.
They will then evaluate the benefits for students and decide whether to implement the changes more widely.
The announcement comes as a UCAS report published today showed that universities already have a high level of awareness of the risks of potential bias in admissions decisions and are employing a range of strategies to avoid it.
The report recommends universities trying out the name-blind approach alongside better training about unconscious bias.
The universities’ decision to mask applicants’ names come after David Cameron, the then prime minister, last year pledged to introduce a name-blind higher education admissions system by 2017, as part of the government’s efforts to increase student diversity at leading institutions.
Mr Cameron said racial bias was “clearly a risk” in the current university admissions system, citing UCAS statistics for Russell Group universities that show 55 per cent of applications from white students are offered places, compared to 23 per cent of applications from black students.
But universities claimed that masking names on applications could backfire, and make it hard for them to nurture contacts with potential applicants from poor backgrounds through outreach schemes.
UCAS has ruled out making its central admissions process name-blind, preferring to leave it up to individual institutions.
Helen Thorne, UCAS’ director of external relations said: “Managing university admissions is a complex business. Universities use different technology systems and many use a number of different admissions processes for individual subjects.
“Admissions professionals are concerned that if UCAS were to mask names centrally this could affect their ability to maintain relationships with students and undermine efforts to widen participation.
“The projects being undertaken in 2017 will enable universities to evaluate the effectiveness of a name blind approach and how it could complement existing approaches used to ensure that admissions are fair for all.”
Universities and science minister Jo Johnson said: “We are committed to ensuring that everyone with the ability, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to study at our world-class universities. That is why we called on UCAS to conduct this review and I’m delighted to see universities working together to take it forward and stamp out inequality.”
Want to keep up with the latest education news and opinion? Follow TES on Twitter and like TES on Facebook
