Alid Misli

Employees in the Ucas clearing house call centre answer enquiries (Picture by Matt Cardy)

Sixth-formers received a record number of A-level passes this morning, but tens of thousands faced a mad scramble to find places in the most competitive year yet for the clearing system.

With more than half of all grades As or Bs, the pass rate rose for the 27th year running to 97.5 per cent. More than one in four exams was graded an A — up from 25.9 per cent last year to 26.7 per cent — a bigger rise than the previous year. Three-quarters got at least a grade C.

But the university admissions service also said that 135,114 students were eligible for clearing this year — for just 22,000 places. The same figures last year were 112,000 for 43,000 places.

That means they have either not met the grades required for their chosen institution, have chosen not to take up an existing offer, or were not holding an offer.

Professor Les Ebdon, vice-chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and Chair of million+ which represents the universities with the most places in clearing, said: “It is unfortunate that the peak in the number of 18-year-olds in the system and the recession have collided to mean that demand for university places far outstrips supply.”

The University and Colleges Union said that the expected rush for limited clearing places marked the low point of the Government’s widening participation agenda to try and get 50 per cent of young people into university. The union blamed “the Government’s failure to match strong ambition to expand university access with the money to properly fund higher education.”

Sally Hunt, the general secretary of UCU, said: “The Government’s decision to cap the numbers of student places at university this year, and most likely permanently cap the ambition of thousands of potential students, marks the nadir of a policy which has become, in essence, the rationing of hope.

“The late addition of some extra places that are not funded or resourced is little more than a sticking tape policy that won’t help students or universities.”

The Prime Minister announced an extra 10,000 student places in science subjects to attempt to plug the gap but refused to provide funding for universities for the additional students.

Girls continue to outshine boys but the gap is narrowing.

Mike Cresswell, director general of AQA exam board, said that there was no evidence to suggest exams were getting easier.

He said: “The improvements differ between regions so naive dumbing-down arguments do not wash.”

There were improvements in maths and science and an increase in the number of candidates taking economics. Dr Creswell said that this could be attributed to “the dreaded word credit crunch”.

The pass rate of 97.5 per cent is 0.3 per cent higher than last year’s. Traditional subjects remained the most popular with the largest proportion of candidates taking English, maths and biology. There was a decline in entry in General Studies, computing and IT.

French and German continued a slow long-term drop in numbers but Spanish and less mainstream languages such as Chinese and Urdu grew in popularity.

Anthony McClaran, chief executive of UCAS, said: “For those people who haven’t secured a place, universities and colleges across the country are waiting for their calls. Clearing is very competitive but as is always the case those students who achieve the grades asked for under the terms of their offers will be guaranteed a place.

Asked about reports that 50,000 A-level students would miss out on a place at university, David Lammy, the Higher Education Minister, said that both he and UCAS did not recognise that figure.

“You simply can’t deduce that kind of number at this stage,” he said. Every year, one in five young people who applied to university did not go for various reasons, he added.

This year 52,000 more people applied but only 13,000 extra places were made available.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “It will be little short of a tragedy if all the hard work by this year’s students is unrewarded by a place in higher education or a job. It seems particularly cruel to raise expectations and then dash them by failing to provide enough places in higher education for UK students. The Government will need to do more to support those who don’t manage to get a university place this year.”

Diana Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said: “Although it’s not new to see intense competition for places during clearing, we know things will be tighter over the coming days due to the large number of applicants for university places this year.”

She added: “Universities are experienced in handling high numbers of applications and they have been preparing for this peak time for many months now, along with UCAS. There will be a range of UCAS and university advisers available to help those applicants who have not gained a place initially.”

Source: UK Times Online

My symphony for this case is: CRAZY!!!!! Now that there are more local (UKs) eligible students, who are also holding good grades faces unfortunate for the limited placement for them to go for their higher education. Be reminded this is UK. To foreign students (especially the commonwealth countries) who are also applying for UK institutions to further their studies, “How will your fate be? Local first? Or YOU (International Scholars)”; to whom with guarantees to bring large sum of fees to their country and to their University. Something to think about..