The University of Cambridge has expressed deep concern for the forthcoming AS-level reforms.

The University has sent letters to Michael Gove MP, former Secretary of State for Education, conducted research that it argues demonstrates the effectiveness of AS Levels, and most recently written to every college and Sixth Form centre in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to outline its position on the new proposals.

It is not just Cambridge which has come out against the AS reforms. A growing number of critics are voicing their concerns in the run up to the general election. The Conservative Party have promised to implement these reforms, while the Labour party intend to reverse them.

Other critics of the reforms include Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, who has spoken out against what she calls the “unmanageable level of change”, as well as Mary Curnock Cook, the chief executive of UCAS, and Mike Nicholson, Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Oxford.

The schedule for reform would mean that the new style of AS and A levels would begin this September, with the first results for AS available next year. The key changes to the current Advanced Subsidiary, an examination which was introduced in September 2000, include the shift from a modular to a linear structure and the decoupling of AS and A levels. This means that AS results will no longer count towards an A-level.

The proposals have particularly concerned those involved with university access and outreach. By decoupling the AS-level, critics argue, the qualification is made redundant, and some schools do not have the resources to offer this non-obligatory, standalone qualification. Consequently, the argument goes, this reduces the amount of information available to admissions tutors about applicants' recent academic progress, while also meaning that students may make too conservative, or overly ambitious, choices for higher education based on GCSE results.

Cambridge is in favour of maintaining the existing structure in which AS-level and A-level stay linked. It argues that the current system, with a formal assessment at the end of Year 12, is a better indicator of future performance and is an important part of a fair admissions process. They argue that recent research from the University of Bristol has supported this claim. Above all, tutors have stressed that without recent academic information, the admissions process arguably shifts from a focus on attainment to prediction.

The Department for Education and the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have asserted that the reform is necessary, citing the removal of the interruption of an annual examination, the greater freedom for teachers within a two year course, and the more rigorous quality of linear assessment.

Regardless of the merits of the current system or a reformed system of AS-levels, it is clear that the uncertainty surrounding the reforms threatens to destabilise the process before it has even begun.

Final details are still being prepared. In January, the Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, called on Ofqual to reverse the decision to remove graded practical assessment from science subjects. In addition, the staggered introduction of the new decoupled AS-levels means that many students in the first few cohorts will take a combination of the new and old style exams.

The University of Cambridge, however, has made its position clear: keep AS-levels as they are.