Places still available at leading universities

TENS of thousands of lastminute degree places could be available today, as universities scramble to attract students still searching for a course.

As of yesterday morning, there were more than 27,000 courses listed on the Ucas clearing website.

A number of leading universities have been encouraging students to consider studying with them, and even pre-registering ahead of A-level results today.

Ucas figures show that overall, around 890 applicants found places through adjustment last year, while around 50,000 were placed through the main clearing scheme.

Clearing is the annual process that matches students without places, for example those that did not meet their required grades, with available courses.

Cardiff University has been using Twitter to promote its places, using the social media site to encourage students to plan ahead for results day, view its vacancies and register for update.

Sheffield University is running a campaign this summer which it said aims to “challenging the old perceptions around clearing” and tell highperforming students that if they do better than expected that they can switch to study at the institution.

According to the Ucas clearing site, Sheffield currently has available places for students in England on 381 undergraduate courses, and Cardiff has 366.

There is now no cap on student numbers which makes it easier for institutions to recruit more applicants if they want to.

The number of would-be students applying to university this autumn has fallen, according to Ucas statistics.

Overall, 649,700 people had applied by June 30, the last deadline for applications, down around 4% (down 25,190) compared with this point last year.

Those applying after the end of June do so through clearing.

A breakdown shows a 4% decrease in UK applicants, while the number of EU students planning in a UK university or college has fallen by 5%.

Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said there is still “great demand” for places.

“There are a variety of reasons for the drop in applications this year, including the decline in the number of 18 and 19-year-olds, changes to funding for degrees in nursing, and the possible impact of the vote to leave the EU.

“There will still be more applications than there are university places.”