Cutbacks in public financing for higher education are expected to mean that record numbers of British students will fail to secure a place at a university this autumn, and thanks to a computer glitch, for 2,500 students who had applied to the University of Middlesex, the wait has become a whole lot harder.
The applicants were erroneously notified that they had been admitted to the university, CNN reports. The students had already been conditionally accepted, but the final decision will depend on the grades they receive in the national A-level exams, which are not scheduled to be released until next week. According to CNN, “the university said it has sent both text and e-mail notifications to affected applicants clarifying the situation last week.”
Several other institutions, including Cornell University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have made similar errors in the past. Last year, according to CNN, a staffer at the University of California-San Diego mistakenly sent acceptance notifices to the entire applicant pool of 47,000, rather than to just the 18,000 who were actually accepted.
4 Responses to British University Sends Out 2,500 Acceptance Notices in Error
22078742 - August 13, 2010 at 4:35 pm
notifices?
jabberwocky12 - August 16, 2010 at 12:18 pm
@ 22078742: Sure – it’s a combination of “notifications” and “notices” :-) Hey, if Sarah Palin can do it, so can the CHE. :-)
stevefoerster - August 16, 2010 at 1:29 pm
“Computer glitch” is such a cop out! The problem with computers is that they do exactly what they’re told. I realize this is an era where personal responsibility is unfashionable, but some person, some human being, screwed up here.
cwoodso1 - August 17, 2010 at 10:40 am
I agree stevefoerster. I think people blame technology to much, when in reality it is controlled by human-beings who are not double checking their work.