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Fewer UK students gain place on degree course, Ucas figures show Fewer UK students gain place on degree course, Ucas figures show
(35 minutes later)
The number of students accepted on to degree courses at UK universities is down 1.3% compared with last year, according to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. More students are leaving it late to hunt for places to study at university, according to new official figures, as school-leavers from England give no sign of losing their appetite for higher education.
The latest Ucas figures show that 437,070 people from the UK had found courses as of midnight, about 20,700 fewer than had been placed at the same point last year. Figures from the Ucas university clearing house, released on Friday morning, show an increasing number of English 18-year-olds accepting places on undergraduate courses and a rise in the proportion taking up places through the post-A-levels process known as clearing.
The statistics also reveal that more would-be undergraduates have found a place through clearing compared with last year, with the numbers put through the system up by 6%. In 2014 the number of applicants who found a place through clearing the day after A-level results were published was just 5,300, but this year the numbers have risen to 11,000.
The figures show 11,180 students have found places through clearing so far this year, the day after the process opened. Clearing is the annual system that matches students without degree places, such as those who failed to meet the entry requirements for their chosen course, with courses that still have availability. The increasing use of clearing to find undergraduate places backs up suggestions that students were taking advantage of competition among institutions given the demographic dip in the number of school-leavers in the UK population.
For those candidates still to find a place, there are indications that there has never been a better time to enter clearing. The number of students free to be placed in clearing is down 12% (about 18,000 people) compared with last year, the figures show. In particular there was a rise in the number of students coming from the most deprived 20% of the population in England, with the participation rate rising from 16.1% to 16.5%.
The drop in acceptances and numbers eligible for clearing means many options are available for students still hoping to start degree courses this autumn, with the majority of universities, including many top Russell Group institutions, entering clearing to try to recruit good candidates. A further 390 students had taken advantage of the process known as adjustment, in which those with better than expected A-level results can seek further offers.
There have been reports that a number of universities are lowering their entry requirements to attract students. Several universities reported seeing high levels of inquiries through their clearing call centres, including Birkbeck College in central London, which specialises in offering part-time and evening courses.
The college said there had been a sharp rise in the volume of calls it received on Thursday, with students asking about places on 90 courses offered.
“We are delighted at these figures, which come on top of a significant rise in applications before clearing opened,” said Prof Matthew Innes, Birbeck’s vice-master.
Birkbeck’s experience appears to buck the national trend, with Ucas figures showing a small decrease in applicants accepting places on UK undergraduate courses overall, with the fall driven by a drop in the number of acceptances by older applicants – aged 19 and over – and from EU countries.
In the day after A-level results were published on Thursday, Ucas said that a total of 437,000 applicants had accepted places to study at UK universities, a fall of just over 1% compared with the 443,000 who had accepted places by the same time last year.
In England the proportion of the 18-year-old population taking up places continued to rise, to 29.5%, bettered only by Northern Ireland with 30%. In Scotland and Wales there was less take-up, with Wales in particular seeing a 3% fall in school-leaver applications compared with last year.
In England the 18-year-old applications were up to 183,750, a rise of 2,000 compared with the previous year. But older age groups showed steep falls, confirming that mature students continue to be put off from higher education since tuition fees rose to £9,000 in 2012.
Among the more unconventional clearing decisions came at Staffordshire University, which said it had made and confirmed offers on Thursday to undergraduates via Snapchat.
“It was a bit strange to do clearing on Snapchat but I’m very happy now as I’ve been worrying about it for weeks,” said Jess Warrellow, who accepted a place on Staffordshire’s BSc course in animal biology and conservation.