Scramble for places sparks university challenge

Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan and Sheffield Hallam all said that some spaces were still available last night.

The Ucas clearing system matches up course vacancies with students who do not have a firm offer of a place from a university after A-level results are announced.

Leeds Met’s head of admissions Stewart Harper, told the Yorkshire Post the university expected to have spaces available next week despite having its busiest clearing season ever.

The numbers each university can recruit are capped with institutions facing fines if they go above it. This year, however, universities are allowed to recruit unlimited numbers of candidates who secure two As and a B at A-level or better.

Mr Harper said almost all Leeds Met courses still had places available to AAB students while some were available on a range of courses for people who secured lower grades.

“It has been our busiest year in clearing. We put that down to the university still being a popular place to study and people perhaps applying later this year because of the changes to the system.”

A Leeds University spokesman said that it still had course vacancies for high-quality candidates with details published on its website.

Bradford University also had places available last night, according to a spokeswoman who revealed optometry, pharmacy and clinical science had been among its popular courses through clearing this year so far.

A Sheffield Hallam University spokesman said it still had places available despite receiving more than 8,000 calls within the first two hours of the phonelines opening yesterday.

He also revealed that Sheffield Hallam had exceeded its target for recruiting as many students as last year who had achieved two As and a B or better at A-level.

Hull University said it still had places available and had already made around 600 offers through clearing to “high-quality students”.

York St John University which had seen the biggest increase in applicants of any university in England this year, despite the increase in tuition fees, went into clearing with just 50 places available and was in the process of making offers for those yesterday.

A York University spokesman said: “Although confirmation and clearing are essentially complete, there remain a number of uncertainties and we shall not get a clear picture until the end of next week at the earliest.”

Nationally tens of thousands of students are still waiting to hear if they have secured a university place, new figures show.

Around 30,000 fewer students have had their places confirmed, compared with the same point last year, according to the latest Ucas figures.

They reveal that 79,627 people are still waiting on decisions, up from 78,141 at this point last year.

This figure includes people who were made conditional offers based on their A-level

A quarter of a million people logged onto the Ucas track system yesterday. Nationally 4,166 students had gained places through clearing yesterday – this was up slightly on the same point in 2011 when 3,692 people had found places through clearing.

Those heading to university in England this autumn will be the first to pay tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year.

Concerns have been raised this year that changes to the admissions system could leave some students chasing for spare places.

Under a new admissions system, there is now no limit on the numbers of students with two As and a B at A-level that universities can recruit. But it means universities are likely to have less flexibility to admit students who just miss this standard with fewer capped places available for those achieved below that.

More A-level results: Page 12.