University places being filled quickly as students rush in

Figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) confirmed there had been a rush for clearing places, as expected, because of the threat of a trebling of tuition fees in 2012.

Almost all places in Yorkshire universities are now filled.

Clearing is the annual process which matches students who have not already been offered university places, or who have not qualified for places they have been offered, to courses that still have vacancies.

The process usually lasts a few weeks but could be shorter this year as students accept offers quickly.

Before A-level results were notified to 300,000 school-leavers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, last week, it was estimated there would be about 40,000 degree course vacancies left in the clearing process – about 7,000 fewer than last year. Scotland had already had its A level results, a week earlier, and Scottish students had already pretty well filled Scottish university places, so the remaining competition is focused on the rest of the UK.

More students than usual are competing, with 190,000 eligible and a high proportion looking for a place at university straight away, rather than after a “gap year”.

The rush started as soon as A-level results were digested last Thursday with the volume of enquiries from students checking the progress of their applications causing part of the Ucas website to shut down for some hours.

At midday yesterday, Ucas said 17,878 places had been taken through the clearing process- 4,281 more than at the same point last year. That took the total with confirmed places to 425,487 – 10,416 more than at the same point last year, thanks to good A-level results, which meant record numbers of students got the grades they needed.

The picture is still not entirely clear, because nearly 62,000 university applicants are still waiting for their A-level results, or appealing over their grades or still waiting to hear from the universities they expected to go to after reporting lower grades than they needed.

Statistics show, however, that 684,098 people have applied for university this autumn, an extra 8,633 people compared with this time last year.

On Saturday the Yorkshire Post reported Leeds, Huddersfield, Leeds Metropolitan, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam and York universities were all full while Hull and York St John warned they had only a handful of places left.

Yesterday, Hull said it had received three thousand inquiries about its 500 clearing places and had filled them all. York St. John was overwhelmed with calls and said it could not find anybody available for comment who had a clear picture of the position. Bradford University was the same.

Teesside University said it was taking names only for waiting lists for unexpected vacancies, created by cancellations from students already booked but “students should call us to discuss their options”. The University of Lincoln, which includes the former Humberside University in Hull, had a few places left on engineering courses.

Universities in England will be charging tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year from next autumn, to make up for reduced Government funding – nearly three times the present level of just over £3,000 a year. Tuition fees will be paid up front by the Government, in the form of loans which must be paid back once the graduate begins earning £21,000 a year.

Welsh universities are also raising their fees but Welsh students will have the increase subsidised wherever they study in the UK.

Scottish students studying in Scotland pay no fees but the Scottish government will allow universities to charge up to £9,000 a year for students from other parts of the UK. Northern Ireland’s ministers have said there will be no major rise in fees in its universities in 2012.

The Ucas website is carrying an advertisement for places at Australian universities. A spokeswoman at the recruiting company said: “You’re looking at between £10,000 and £18,000 a year.”