The UK’s leading universities have thousands of undergraduate places unfilled a week before A-level results are published, meaning more school leavers are likely to gain places than in recent years.
A survey by the Press Association found that members of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities were advertising nearly 3,900 vacancies on courses for domestic undergraduates starting in autumn, compared with 2,000 at this point last year.
Last year only 15 of the 24 Russell Group universities had unfilled courses but this year the number has risen to 18, with Manchester, Durham and Liverpool universities joining the pool of vacancies.
The courses are advertised through clearing, which allows applicants without the offer of a place, or who want to change courses, to apply, in most cases after they have received their exam results.
The survey of 130 of the UK’s biggest universities found 23,000 course vacancies being offered to students through clearing earlier this week. Last year it recorded 22,400 course vacancies.
With sixth-formers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland receiving A-level and BTec results on 15 August, universities are preparing to make rapid decisions about applicants who may have narrowly missed the grades they needed for entry, as well as offering places through clearing.
Some experts are predicting the proportion of top A-level grades awarded in England this year may be lower than in 2023, meaning “high tariff” universities may have to set more lenient entry requirements.
Mike Nicholson, the University of Cambridge’s director of recruitment, admissions and participation, said: “I think the impetus this year will be to take a student who’s narrowly missed [their required grades], and then if you need some more students on top of that, go into clearing.
“But if you can fill your places on students who’ve got the grades and those who’ve narrowly missed, and then not have to bother with clearing, then for a university that’s probably a stronger position to be in.”
Cambridge, along with Oxford and a handful of other institutions, have not offered any courses through clearing so far this year.
The acute financial pressures facing universities, caused by the long-term erosion in domestic tuition fees as well as fewer applicants from inside and outside the UK, means there is a strong incentive for institutions to fill places, or risk having to cut costs and make staff redundant.
Nicholson - a former head of admissions at the universities of Bath and Oxford - said universities were becoming “fast off the blocks” in advertising vacancies online.
“I think universities will have a very clear sense of what their numbers are this year, what they’ve got to achieve to balance the books. Therefore, I think Thursday and Friday of the week A-level results are out will be very busy,” Nicholson told the Press Association.
Some universities were likely to run extra on-campus “drop-in sessions” after results came out, to encourage students to enrol, he added.
The extra places on offer through clearing could be the result of fewer applications. Just 42.7% of 18-year-olds in England have applied for an undergraduate place this year, compared with 44.9% in 2022.
A spokesperson for the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) said: “As is the case each year, clearing is likely to be competitive for the most selective courses and at the most selective universities. Ucas’s advice to students is to research their options and make a plan ahead of results day.”
School leavers in Scotland received their results earlier this week, with a record 20,670 aged 19 and under being accepted on university or college courses.
