University control of A level exams is the answer for poor quality schooling after GCSEs.

Year after year the pass rates and the results of the A level exams, the UK’s exams for final year school students, have risen. More and more of the top A grade have been handed out to students; while the students may be happy about thos there have been increasing worries that A levels are getting easier. Universities are confronted by several problems as a result of A levels. First is a result of the increasing numbers getting the top A grade which makes it more difficult to choose between candidates for places at top university courses forcing the universities to fall back on things other than academic results or else the amount of extra courses done. The other major criticism has been that A levels do not prepare students properly. They focus too much on learning specific facts without enough concentration on analysis and in some subjects they do not teach all the basics. This has lead to Universities often having to teach things to students that they should have been taught at school.
The education secretary Michael Gove’s solution is to give the Universities themselves much more involvement in A levels. The idea is to get universities involved in designing exams. If the exams require particular knowledge or a different kind of teaching to get top marks then schools will have to respond and so will be preparing their students for university better. However Universities have plenty of work to do themselves can and should they really be taking on more?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17588292
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/apr/03/gove-university-set-a-levels?intcmp=239