On Mon, 17 Sep 2007, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> On 2007-09-07 19:27:58 +0200, Frances Kemmish <fkemmish@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
said:
>> As it happens, on Wednesday evening I was at a reception in New York
for
>> alumni of the University of Birmingham. One of the guests of honour was
>> Paul Nurse, who was a student at the same time that I was (although I
never
>> met him then). He mentioned the matriculation requirements of the time,
>> which included a pass at O-Level in a foreign language. He failed the
exam
>> six times, but the head of the department to which he'd applied went to
the
>> University Senate, and got a special dispensation for him to
matriculate
>> without that requirement, so long as he took language classes in the
French
>> department during his first year as an undergraduate.
> The story is interesting for another reason, that a student that I knew
well
> who was in the 2nd year in 1970-71, and so presumably two years junior
to
> Paul Nurse, was in a similar position to what you describe. He had no
> language O level and appeared totally incapable of passing any sort of
> language exam, but had such high grades in everything else that the
> Admisssions Tutor decided to admit him anyway.
The days when admissions tutors for science and engineering subjects at
redbrick
universities were able to turn away applicants on grounds like this have
long gone.
These days it's difficult enough to fill all the places avaiulable with
people
who have reasonable grades in A-level Maths and the required science, let
alone
ask for extras like a GCSE foreign language.
Matthew Huntbach
|
