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Advising sixthformers on their choice of university course is not merely a question of checking subject requirements and offers, it is also one of helping the applicant to avoid the frequent misconceptions and confusion resulting from a plethora of courses and course titles.

More important, it is also necessary, particularly for referees, to try to identify if the potential student has the right personal and academic qualities, over and above grades or points, to meet the demands of the chosen course.

If the admission of applicants is now to be moved away from academic tutors to central departments ("Academics lose admissions role", December 10), then presumably these administrators will have first to undertake the onerous task of acquiring all the necessary information regarding the structure and demands of each course - not only to achieve a fair selection system but also to provide schools with the information that was so usefully provided by subject tutors in the past.

Perhaps it may now become common policy to introduce information regarding the specific "qualities required" for each course into prospectuses, a practice adopted at present by only a limited number of institutions.

Brian Heap
Author, Degree Course Offers
Broadway

Worcestershire