Record number of students enter clearing

A record number of young people will enter the clearing process this year in a bid to secure a place at university.

According to the BBC, almost 192,000 people are eligible for clearing, which is an increase of 7,000 compared to last year.

Universities minister David Willetts commented: "At the moment, I'm told by Ucas there are about 29,500 university courses with vacancies in clearing. Now some of those may be more than one place, so there should be 40,000 or more places in clearing for young people and I very much hope they find an opportunity through that."

He advised students not to panic and pointed out that those who miss out this year will have the opportunity to apply again in 2012.

Students across the UK received their A-level results earlier this week, with pass rates rising for the 29th consecutive year.

Pass rates rose from 97.6 per cent to 97.8 per cent.

Posted by Katy Kearns
 

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