Heartache as A-level students face the biggest test of all

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Higher education bosses from the region also warn that the thousands of teenagers who miss out on a university place are not prepared for what to do next and could become unemployed for long periods.

Universities across Yorkshire have seen a large rise in applications this year – in some cases by as much as 30 per cent as more young people turn to higher education amid fears over the job market.

This has led to fewer places being available through the clearing system which school leavers use to find a place if they have missed out on their first choice of course and university.

There are also fears that universities will recruit fewer students this year to avoid being fined by the Government for breaching a cap which limits their numbers.

Prof Roger Lewis, chief executive of the Yorkshire Universities group, said: "It is anticipated that it is going to be tougher getting into university this year.

"I think there is a real issue over how informed young people are, how well prepared they are to make decisions if they do not get good news about their A-levels."

He said it was a possibility that students could increasingly leave school after A-levels without securing work, training or education. He added: "We are in new territory here."

A Sheffield University spokeswoman said last night that it had not yet decided whether it could offer any places through clearing.

The university has already rejected more applicants than it did last year, with 13,000 candidates having been turned down.

Both Leeds and York University said only a small number of clearing places would be available with fewer students expected to be admitted through the system than last year.

Leeds University has received more than 50,000 applications for around 6,500 courses.

Elsewhere Huddersfield University expects to have around 150 places available through clearing – a third of what it had on offer last year – while York St John has around 100 clearing places, fewer than has been offered in previous years.

It has rejected 3,173 candidates so far this year – almost double the amount it turned down in 2009 after receiving a 30 per cent increase in applications.

Bradford University's deputy vice-chancellor Prof Geoff Layer told the Yorkshire Post the number of spare places it would be offering was still unclear but that the process of getting into university this summer was "the most competitive it has been for 20 years".

Bradford will have 255 new places available through clearing this year as part of 10,000 extra spaces being provided across the country by the University Modernisation Fund in science, technology, engineering and maths courses.

Across Yorkshire 715 new places are being provided by this one-off payment from the Government.

Yesterday university staff across Yorkshire were trying to avoid "over-recruiting" students as they worked out how many students' A-level grades had met the offers made to them.

Controls brought it by the last Government mean universities are fined 3,700 for every student they accept above their allocated target.