Universities drop entry standards in struggle to fill courses

Elite Russell Group institutions have 4,000 subjects to fill before A-levels

LEADING universities still have thousands of empty courses, figures show, as they prepare to drop their entry standards to fill places.

More than 4,000 courses have vacancies at 15 out of the 24 elite Russell Group universities, in the run-up to the publication of A-level results on Thursday.

Admissions tutors for sought-after courses such as Law and English Literature that typically require A* and A grades at A-level are poised to drastically lower their entry requirements in an attempt to entice as many students as possible.

A dip in applications has left top ranking institutions scrabbling to fill places, after a significant drop in the number of EU students combined with a decline in the youth population led to applications to British universities falling by four per cent.

Durham, York and Glasgow universities were among those with empty places before A-level results day. Leeds University still had spaces on 530 of its courses, while Queen Mary University of London advertised vacancies on 459 courses last night. Some of the most competitive courses still had places, including Physics at Bristol University, which requires A*AA, or Law at Manchester University which requires AAA.

Christina Edgar, head of admissions at the University of Sheffield, said there was no longer a “stigma” attached to the clearing process, because rather than students competing to win a finite number of places at top institutions, it is the universities which are vying against one another to attract as many students as possible.

“A few years ago you would not have seen many Russell Group universities or those higher up in the rankings in clearing as they would have filled up their places earlier in the [admissions] cycle,” she said. “Now there is just more choice – and attitudes have also changed.”

The lifting of student number controls in 2015 means that universities can recruit as many undergraduates as they see fit – but the move has led to accusations that they are acting like businesses, seeking to maximise revenue by recruiting as many students as possible.

Chloe Livadeas, 22, who read English at Cardiff University, recalled her phone conversation with the university’s admissions department on her A-level results day. “I called up Cardiff, and usually you need AAB to do English Lit,” she said. “They asked me, ‘What did you get?’ I said ‘ACC’. They asked if the A was in English. I replied yes. They said, ‘OK, we’ll have you.’”

It comes after The Daily Telegraph revealed that school leavers are increasingly being offered places regardless of their exam results.