Pamela Fayerman at the Vancouver Sun has been reporting over the past two weeks about accusations that high-profile or influential parents have crossed the line in their efforts to get their kids a seat in the University of British Columbia (UBC) medical school program.
The story began with a memo obtained by the Vancouver Sun that was written by Denis Hughes, a former admissions director, where Hughes criticizes certain allowances made to applicants, particularly where the parents of an applicant have intervened in an apparent effort to get special treatment.
Despite the concerns identified by Hughes in the memo, UBC appears to come off pretty well in the various news stories. The admissions people refused to accommodate MLA Ido Chong, who apparently sent a letter at the request of the CEO of the Vancouver Island Health Authority regarding the CEO’s son.
Universities need a certain amount of discretion when making decisions about who to admit. Absolute transperancy would be unreasonable, but – obviously – each student’s application should be subject to the same procedure and fairness must be paramount for the admissions process to have any integrity.
For its part, UBC has a relatively comprehensive set of rules and safeguards surrounding its admissions process. The UBC Calendar includes various admissions policies and there is even a two-level appeals process for unsatisfied applicants.
Of course, there can always be holes and even the right rules need to be followed to have any value. Plus, any allegations of impropriety should be scrutinized. But it’s important to keep things in perspective.
There have been a series of court decisions dealing with admissions that may be helpful for universities interested in revising their admissions policies or ensuring that institutional practices are kept in line (see here and here for examples from CanLII).