University extends degree course in bid to help students catch up on basic skills they failed to learn at A-level

Imperial College is also warning that a new A** grade may soon be needed because A-grade pass rates are rising so fast.

David Robb, an admissions tutor, told MPs elite universities struggle to identify true high-fliers from the merely good because so many sixth-formers now get top grades.

Imperial wants to be able to make offers of places based on the percentage of marks achieved in exams, starting with 75 per cent, and is also considering an entrance exam for all applicants, he said.

A top university is extending its degree courses by a year to teach school-leavers basic maths and science

But when sixth-formers arrive at university, many lack core knowledge, forcing lecturers to set aside much of the first year of studies for remedial topics, he added.

This had led the university to extend many of its course from three years to four.

'Because of the change in the background knowledge we have actually had to extend most of our corses from three years to four years,' he told the Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee.

'Some of the first year is actually bringing them up to the level they should have been and hopefully also making them aware of their ability to survive outside of a school environment where they are spoon fed.

'Most science and engineering courses are going to four years if they haven't already done so.'

But he warned that while A-levels fail to prepare youngsters adequately for studies at Imperial, the Government's new diploma qualifications - touted as an eventual replacement for A-levels - look to be even worse.

'We have looked at this quite seriously and the amount of maths in the engineering diploma is not sufficient for us to be able to say with confidence we would be able to accept the students,' he said.

Outlining his concerns about the education system to the influential committee, Mr Robb said: 'We need students coming into our university who are really confident with their basic mathematical and physical principles.

'Engineers have got to get things right. You can't say, "This looks about right'"

'You have got to believe in those calculations.

'There are people's lives at stake. If you get the calculations wrong, engineers can kill.'

Mr Robb said he was pressing to make offers of places based on fine-grained percentages rather than grades and feared that the Government's introduction of an A* grade at A-level in 2010 would not be enough.

'When I started 20 years ago I would look at grade Bs as a standard entry requirement,' he told the MPs.

'Last year we asked for straight As and it was totally oversubscribed.

"The A-level assessment at the moment is not providing the filter that we require.

'When is the A** going to come in? If you look at the trend in A-grades it's going up every year.

'A-levels were originally designed as an entrance to university and it has now been distorted to a general education qualification.'