GCSE marking row: almost a third of colleges 'lowering grades' Ofqual, the English qualifications regulator, admitted that grades set in January were too "generous" but insisted those in the summer were accurate. But Mr Gove has rejected calls to remark the exams, insisting that teenagers handed better grades will struggle to get a job because qualifications have been "devalued." Yesterday it emerged that Britain's biggest college has relaxed the restriction on dozens of courses while others were taking "flexible" approaches to students. A survey by the Association of Colleges (AOC), of 64 of its 350 members in England, found that 28 per cent of respondents were "changing admissions criteria." Manchester College, which has 80,000 teenage and adult learners, said it will accept students who received D grades in English despite several courses requiring a minimum C. The move, which includes all A level courses and all Level 3 courses, is expected to benefit more than 500 students with provisional offers. Manchester College officials said it had made the one-off move after thousands of students who missed out when the grade boundaries were changed. By changing our qualification requirements for this year's entries we hope that students ... will be able to continue on their journey and reach their full potential. Derby College, also one of the country's biggest with 7,000 students, said it was taking a "flexible" approach to students who failed their GCSE English. Previously they would reject anyone with anything below a C Grade for A-level courses but will assess on an individual basis anyone who received a grade D. York College, which has 1,000 A-level students, also said they had relaxed their entry requirements for GCSE English and would consider any student's application. A spokesman said that any student allowed on the course would have to retake the English exam as a pass was needed for them to progress to A-levels. City of Bristol College also said they were treating "every application individually." Joy Mercer, the AOC Director of Policy, admitted that "lots of colleges have been affected" by the fiasco. She said: "It is a question of resources. It is about finding room in the timetable, finding teachers, even finding an exam room. It is an extra hurdle for learners to jump over and an extra worry. Earlier this week Mr Gove warned that a wholesale regrading of test papers in Wales was "irresponsible" and would give pupils the false impression of high standards. The move - ordered by the Labour-dominated Welsh Assembly - will result in a further "injustice" for pupils by effectively dumbing down their achievements. A Department for Education spokesman declined to comment last night.