Universities will be keen to offer places on degree courses to school leavers on A-level results day even if they have narrowly missed out on grades, experts have suggested. A record number of 18-year-olds are expected to wake up on Thursday next week to the news that they have been successful in securing their first-choice university, the head of Ucas has predicted.
Nearly three out of four top institutions have courses available through clearing - which matches applicants to university places yet to be filled - in the week before A-level results day, analysis has found. There will be competition between universities to fill places with more UK applicants, creating a "buyer's market" for students, it has been suggested.
Universities face financial pressures
It comes as universities have been warning of financial pressures due to uncertainty about the recruitment of overseas students as well as years of frozen tuition fees by domestic students. A PA news agency sample of 129 of the UK's largest higher education providers showed more than 22,600 courses with vacancies for undergraduate students living in England were available on the Ucas clearing site as of Wednesday.
Seventeen of the 24 elite Russell Group universities had vacancies on courses for English residents - a total of 3,630 courses between them. A similar analysis last year, in the week before A-level results day, showed 18 of the 24 universities had vacancies on courses for English residents - a total of 3,892 courses between them - on the clearing site.
Record offers made this year
Clearing is available to students who do not meet the conditions of their offer on A-level results day, as well as those who did not receive any offers. Students who have changed their mind about what or where they wish to study, and those who have applied outside the normal application window, can also use clearing.
Eight days ahead of exam results day, there was a total of 22,698 courses through clearing across 129 institutions, the PA analysis showed. A similar analysis by PA last year - carried out at the same point before A-level results day and looking at the same range of higher education institutions - showed there were 23,306 courses through clearing.
Ucas predicts fewer clearing vacancies
Ucas figures released last month revealed that the number of offers made to prospective undergraduate students from universities and colleges has reached a record high this year. Jo Saxton, head of the university admissions service, said she expected there to be "slightly fewer" courses with vacancies in clearing this year due to the high number of offers already made to applicants.
She told the PA news agency: "Whilst the system isn't capped, universities do know how many they want to accommodate in their lecture halls and facilities, and I think that a lot of that is going to have been already pinned down through applications and offer-making prior to results." Overall, 94.5% of all students who applied to higher education before the Ucas January deadline have received at least one offer, recent figures show.
Universities favour domestic students
Speaking about A-level results day, the Ucas boss said: "I would anticipate a record number of 18-year-olds will wake up with confirmation, quite possibly even where they are near-misses." She added universities are increasingly "falling back in love" with their three-year undergraduate applicants as there is more "uncertainty" around the international market and which overseas students are going to turn up.
Dr Saxton said: "It's a really, really good year to be a UK-domiciled 18-year-old that wants to go to one of our world-class universities. A couple of the directors of admissions and vice-chancellors that I talked to have talked about recognising, actually, that a three-year undergraduate student is stability for your teaching and learning, for your university community, for your financial planning."
Near-miss students well positioned
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank, said this year's cohort of school leavers are "well placed" to get where they want to study even if they have narrowly missed their university offer grades. He told PA: "The financial plight of universities makes them very keen to fill their courses and they will be falling over themselves to sign up good potential students."
He added: "Not everything is rosy, of course, as the cost-of-living crisis has affected the student experience in deleterious ways, but ambitious school leavers are nonetheless well-placed to get where they want to be in this year's admissions round." Mike Nicholson, director of recruitment, admissions and participation at the University of Cambridge, which does not take part in clearing, said it is "probable" that universities will be "looking very carefully" at near-miss students this summer.
Cambridge explains flexibility approach
He told PA: "If the student, for instance, needed three As [and] gets AAB as long as the B is not in something that's absolutely crucial for the course, I think there's a very strong possibility the student would find they'd be getting a place. If universities have the capacity to take near-miss students I think they'll be very keen to take them this year because those students are already in the system, they've already committed, they've possibly already even applied for accommodation."
Nicholson explained: "So, it's a much easier process to follow through on than having to go out into clearing and recruit somebody from scratch at that point in the year." Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, told PA: "This year is shaping up to be a buyer's market in admissions, with many universities competing to recruit more home students."
Financial necessity drives competition
Major said: "It's driven by basic financial necessity: institutions need to fill degree places as uncertainty grows over international student intakes and budgets tighten across the sector. In an increasingly volatile admissions landscape, we must ensure that the focus on financial sustainability doesn't further exacerbate educational inequalities already embedded in the system."
Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, told PA: "It's certainly competitive between universities. From an applicant point of view, in a sense, that's a really good thing as it means you've got lots of choice."
Clearing no longer last resort
Stern explained: "Clearing has changed, certainly compared to far back in the midst of time when I went to university when it used to be the kind of last-chance saloon, it's not that any more. Clearing is a much more widely-used tool for people to apply for the first time. It's also an opportunity if people want to change their minds they can use clearing to do that."
A Department for Education (DfE) spokeswoman said: "While universities are independent from government and responsible for their own admissions decisions, it is essential that quality is maintained and that the students they admit are likely to succeed. Students deserve high-quality teaching, fair admissions and a clear path to good jobs, whether through a degree or technical route. Apprenticeship starts, participation and achievements are all on the rise, helping more people gain the skills they need."
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
