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The Joint Matriculation Board operates on behalf of its five constituent universities-Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Birmingham-a scheme of mature entry for those lacking recognised qualifications. Applications for the period 1975-80 have been analysed to describe the people coming forward and to trace their progress. The various outcomes are enumerated and examined in relation to entry characteristics. Attempts have been made to contact all those writing for particulars of the scheme in 1980 and they have been followed up in detail. A one-in-five sub-sample has been interviewed. Of those applying only 37% gained admission. However, those obtaining a place tend to do well. At the honours level, they did somewhat better than their fellows, with the difference being more marked on ordinary and general degree courses. The mature students rated their experiences very favourably. Some 85% considered going to university 'very worthwhile' and 46% said 'it was the best thing I ever did. ' The findings suggest that universities can have confidence in admitting carefully selected mature students, even if they should lack formal entry qualifications.
Smithers et al. (Mon,) studied this question.