It is difficult to know whether widening access to schools which provide a more academically oriented general education makes a difference to average educational achievement. We make use of reforms affecting admission to the "high ability" track in Northern Ireland, but not England. The comparison of educational outcomes between Northern…

A novel, liberal admissions procedure used for students over 25 at the University of New South Wales (Australia) is described and its effectiveness evaluated. Extensive interview and questionnaire data are reported on student motivation, expectation, and adjustment problems. Academic performance is shown to be consistently superior to traditional…