Using success to measure quality in British higher education: which subjects attract the best-qualified students?

Leslie, Derek (2003) Using success to measure quality in British higher education: which subjects attract the best-qualified students? Journal of the Royal Statistical Society series A (Statistics in society), 166 (3). pp. 329-347. ISSN 0964-1998

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Abstract

A method of ranking the quality of applicants and acceptances to UK Higher Education establishments is developed. Quality is measured by a weighted average of qualifications, whereby different qualifications can be compared by their success in generating a Higher Education place. A theory is developed to justify this weighting procedure and is based on the idea that more able applicants will self-select into more difficult subject choices, which offer higher returns. Choices are made prior to examination results being known, so high ability applicants may still be rejected. The relative quality of applicants and acceptances across 170 separate subject groups is then devised and discussed.