Yangcheng Evening News reporter Sun Wei intern Hong Yuxin
Following the University of Edinburgh's update of the list of Chinese institutions for the 2022 application season, UCL (University College London) in the United Kingdom also released the list of Chinese institutions for the 2022 and 2023 application seasons for the first time in early April. Changed the old school concept of "popularization" and began to improve the admission standards for graduate students.
British higher education has a long history and colleges and universities enjoy a high international reputation. In recent years, it has become the primary destination for many Chinese students to consider studying abroad.
So, when more and more British schools have set up lists of Chinese institutions, does the threshold for British universities mean that they will gradually increase?
Phenomenon
Published lists of many universities in the UK
The list of Chinese colleges and universities recognized by British universities, the so-called List, in short, is when British universities recruit students for postgraduate students, which universities in China are recruited, which universities are not recruited, and students from different colleges and universities. There are clear and detailed requirements for school grades.
It can be said that applicants are divided into different levels according to their educational background.
In the List released this time, UCL has clearly grouped the undergraduate colleges where Chinese students are located, and divided Chinese colleges and universities into three groups: A, B and C.
Application requirements are often different for different levels of schools.
For example, for Group A schools, the weighted average score for applying to a 2:1 major needs to be 85%, and for Group C schools, the weighted average score needs to be 90%.
It is understood that when reviewing postgraduate applications from China, British institutions of higher learning often define a scope and level for Chinese universities, and formulate different application requirements according to different levels.
The act of publishing Lists is very common in the UK. Before UCL, many colleges and universities already had their own lists of colleges and universities, such as University of Warwick, University of Leeds, University of Manchester, Durham University, etc. In the autumn application season of 2022, Edinburgh Universities have also officially joined the ranks.
The UK attaches great importance to the applicant's background (undergraduate college background), and they all have their own preferred list of Chinese colleges.
Durham University generally formulates its own list based on the ranking of soft subjects. Except for the business school, engineering school, law school and education school, which have their own lists, there are no application restrictions for other colleges that do not give a list; the University of Warwick first announced last year. A total of 325 universities have entered the list of their own accreditation. This year, 17 institutions have been added to the accreditation list of the University of Warwick.
Schools at different levels often have different grade requirements for applicants.
For example, GPA requirements are lower for colleges that are considered excellent, and vice versa.
For example, Durham Business School only recognizes the top 100 universities in the soft sciences, and universities that are not in the top 100 are not eligible to apply even if they are 211 universities.
In terms of score requirements, for the top 10 institutions on the list, the minimum score requirement is 80 points, and the minimum score for other institutions is 85 points.
UCL
Hope the admissions are more fair and open
So why did UCL publish the List this year?
The reporter interviewed the UCL Admissions Office.
"We attach great importance to students from China and expect the best talents to come to our school to study." The relevant person in charge of the admissions office of the school said, "We have used the list of Chinese universities for postgraduate applications for admissions over the years. The public release of this list is in the hope of providing information and support to students applying to our school in a fairer and more open manner."
However, the List released in April this year still made many students feel "sudden".
"In order to apply for overseas universities, I spent the entire four years of university brushing grades, studying IELTS, reading literature and doing internships." Aria is a member of the 2022 application season. In her opinion, studying abroad is not an easy task. .
Each step requires a long time of effort and preparation, and the List released by UCL caught her off guard: "It feels like it's getting harder all of a sudden."
After the announcement of the List, Feng, one of the applicants for the 2022 season, also clearly felt the changes in UCL.
"The release of this List breaks the 'fairness' of UK postgraduate programs in the past. For example, UCL used to make a comprehensive consideration of our university studies, extra-curricular practice, research projects, etc., which was more inclusive. But this year obviously will not be the case. "
All along, unlike Imperial College and the London School of Economics, UCL has taken the line of democratization, that is, as its school motto says: let all efforts win the laurels.
In short, let all students have access to books regardless of class.
In the past, for Chinese international students, UCL did not directly divide the grades of students based on the advantages and disadvantages of the school. As long as they are excellent enough students, they have the opportunity to be admitted to UCL.
Feng also told reporters: "This year's UCL's List grouping is also confusing. Its standards for judging the quality of colleges and universities are quite different from those in China. Some 'double first-class' colleges with high teaching levels fall into Group C, such as Jinan University. and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.”
In this regard, the UCL Admissions Office stated that the list of universities in Group A is reviewed by relevant university committees, including 211 projects, 985 projects and "double first-class" universities, but not all universities in these projects are included in Group A: "We made this list The criteria are based on a combination of university rankings, independent guidance from ENIC, and student performance at UCL. We are constantly reviewing this list and will share your comments with us. It is recommended to be taken into consideration.”
Suggest
The policy of studying abroad is unpredictable, candidates should seize the opportunity
Although controversial, the introduction of List is not for nothing.
For students, after the List is published, some students who intend to apply to UCL can clearly understand the specific requirements of the school, avoid blind delivery, and reduce application costs. For UCL, it can also improve the efficiency of the admissions office in processing applications.
According to Wang Xiaolan, an insider in the study abroad industry and senior consultant of the British and Irish Department of the Guangzhou Branch of Kai Tak Study Abroad, UCL chose to open the enrollment list this year. Social relations are relatively stable, and some students who originally planned to apply for other countries or regions turned to the UK.
On the other hand, the number of fresh graduates in China is increasing year by year, and the number of applications to British universities is increasing year by year.
Obviously, as one of the G5 institutions representing the highest quality of education in the UK, UCL will definitely raise the admission threshold, so there will be stricter requirements for accredited institutions and grades.
Of course, UCL is not familiar with the situation of domestic universities in China, which may also be the reason why domestic students are confused about the list grouping criteria.
"After all, this is the first time UCL has made public the list, and there are situations where many outstanding universities in China are not particularly familiar with." In Wang Xiaolan's view, according to the "practice" of British universities, it may be adjusted every year, "Yes Looking forward to the future list will be more reasonable."
Wang Xiaolan believes that students who do not belong to Group A and Group B need not be discouraged.
This List just has a clear grouping, instead of excluding some colleges and universities, it just sets different score lines for different groups of schools.
Overall, UCL still adheres to its "educational equality" purpose.
In addition, many students in the 2022-2023 application season believe that the competition for studying in the UK is already very high, and the new restrictions mean that the difficulty of application may increase again, especially for students in C-grade universities, who must get very good grades. Only then can you knock on the door of UCL.
In this regard, Wang Xiaolan believes that the introduction of UCL's List also shows from the side that the application difficulty of British universities has indeed increased. "It is recommended that students who plan to apply for British universities must plan ahead and understand their target institutions and majors. Application requirements , Standardized grades and soft background improvement. At the same time, the study abroad policy is unpredictable. It is recommended that students do not easily consider a gap year (meaning that they did not study abroad immediately in the year of graduation, and there is a gap of one year in between), every year has excellent students. Schools are stuck out of the list or have been targeted to raise the admission score, so it is better to seize the opportunity and meet the challenge as much as possible.”