Record Numbers of Students Accepted In To University: Figures from Ucas, the UK body which deals with university applications on behalf of students and universities, have suggested that record numbers of UK students have been accepted on to full-time courses this autumn. In particular, the statistics suggest that poorer students have done especially well – more of these individuals have been accepted on to courses than ever before.

Record Numbers of Students Accepted In To University

Top universities were up to 70% more likely to offer places to those applying with lower grades than they were two years ago, with Ucas commenting that this was a ‘good year’ to apply and that fears over increased tuition fees had proved premature. Indeed, despite a dip in applications in 2012 following the upping of fees to £9,000 per year, this year’s results show a return to the long term trend of an increasing number of students going in to higher education. This trend seems set to continue, as the government has recently announced a plan to remove the cap on student numbers, prompting some commentators to suggest this will lead to more university students with lower grades.

The figures for this year show that just fewer than 496,000 students took up a full-time undergraduate course – meaning that young people across the UK were more likely than ever before to start a degree. In fact, including students beginning their course at 19, 40 per cent of young people in the UK had entered higher education by the age of 19.

Acceptance levels were also high, with around 85% of those who applied in England being able to secure an offer from a university. Among universities described by Ucas as ‘high tariff’ – those which are the most selective – offered places to 10,000 more students this year than in 2012, a rise of almost 10%. They were also offering places to students with lower grades – around 17% of places at top English universities went to students who did not have ABB or above at A-level. The report also outlined the difficulty of predicting A-level grades, with only 30% of those predicted ABB actually achieving them.

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