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Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

A-level results - Levelling the playing field for university admissions

Dr Alex Linley, Capp CEO and co-founder and leading academic in the field of positive psychology, says:

“Admissions processes that focus on strengths as well as academic exam results can help universities to select the right students and give them the best opportunities to learn, make an impact and contribute to society. 

"Strengths-based recruitment has been adopted by many leading employers, including EY, KPMG and GSK, over the last decade to address this challenge. Wanting to recruit the best talent, irrespective of where that talent has come from, or what A-level grades or degree class the candidate has achieved.

"Strengths-based recruitment is bias-free in relation to gender, ethnicity or social background, as it depends on people demonstrating their natural strengths and as such, reveals their ability and potential in relation to the opportunity ahead of them. These natural strengths could be things like work ethic, resilience, curiosity or learning agility – factors that don’t depend on the circumstances and background you come from, but on who you are as a person. 

"Many universities are already using contextualised recruitment decisions for university admissions, taking into account a person’s socio-economic background and trying to make allowances for people for the barriers theymay have had to overcome. Adopting a strengths-based approach would serve to further level the playing field and give everyone an opportunity according to their ability and potential.”


About Capp

Founded in 2005 by Dr Alex Linley and Nicky Garcea, Capp has spent the past 14 years designing new and better ways of assessing and developing people. Our solutions and services leverage human insight, data and innovative technology to add value to the entire talent lifecycle, from early talent selection to senior leadership development. We partner with our clients to create consumer grade experiences, improve quality of hire, enhance efficiency and increase productivity, retention and diversity.

Our teams in the US, UK and Australia are proud to be working with more than 300 clients and over 5 million individuals in service of our shared purpose - strengthening the world. 

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