A DRIVE to attract `better quality students' is behind controversial plans by Queen's University to demand A-level pupils achieve an A and two Bs.
The university intends to raise entry grades even though it knows such a move would mean hundreds of young people failing to make the grade.
It has also been recommended that the number of university schools be cut.
The university's ruling senate is to meet next month to discuss a document that proposes how Queen's will change in size and shape.
About four in every 10 undergraduate courses have target grades lower than 'ABB' at present. Languages and theology require three Bs while midwifery asks for BCC.
The University and College Union is concerned and plans to lobby the senate.
Members are also waiting to be told whether entry tariffs for students coming from England will be lower than those for locals.
The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) will see the greatest upheaval.
The university has admitted that the move could result in an overall student intake reduction - hundreds would fail to reach the new benchmark.
According to the document seen by the Irish News, history, politics and sociology are the subjects that would see the most significant drop.
Based on the 2015 intake, almost one in three history students failed to reach ABB. Of the 84 admitted to politics degrees, 24 did not reach ABB. More than one in three (35 per cent) of sociology students in 2015 also would have been denied a place if ABB was applied.
In the document, AHSS admitted it knew the change would cause numbers to fall.
It added that there were also plans to increase the number of courses requiring straight As. Law, which requires AAB, will move to AAA from 2017.
"The phased implementation of this objective, including the implementation of AAA as an entry tariff in some areas including law, will take into account the benefits and risks of making changes to the recruitment process but the direction of travel and ultimate objective is to raise the quality of incoming students," the document read.
The ABB aspiration is at odds with government targets for schools where a C is considered a good A-level.
There are also concerns that increasing grades will thwart efforts to widen access and make courses available to those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
St Dominic's Grammar School principal Carol McCann said the reality for many young people was it was now prohibitive to attend university outside Northern Ireland due to higher fees and living costs.
"This academic year, pupils will have to score even higher grades with many of them having insurance offers with raised grade entry requirements which they didn't expect," she said.
"Entry to high demand courses such as medicine at QUB has been an issue for many years due to the high bar set at GCSE level due to competition for places, with many post-graduate students attaining coveted places. Access to high demand places in medicine has becoming increasingly difficult for all students and especially those with financial constraints."
