In an effort to get students through Clearing this year, universities are emphasising benefits like £3,000 payouts and on-site Wetherspoon pubs, even though school-leavers have been cautioned to brace themselves for dismal A-level outcomes.
After results day on Thursday, tens of thousands of students are anticipated to lose their university placement and struggle to find a replacement in the Clearing system, which matches candidates to open university positions.
This year, several less prominent colleges are providing incentives to draw applicants, including Roehampton, which will provide a “academic achievement prize” worth £3,000 to those who get three As at A-level.
Northampton University is another institution making an effort to entice students with a variety of benefits.
Northampton is giving every qualified new home-fee undergraduate either a free laptop or £500 in vouchers for on-campus dining to those who qualify.
Others brag about their amenities, like the University of Hull, which highlights its on-campus Wetherspoon bar that debuted in January in collaboration with the students’ union.
Additionally, universities including Bangor, Lincoln, Huddersfield, and Sunderland also promise all students enrolling via Clearing a place in university housing.
It is a guard dog. Bright students who “wouldn’t think” of turning down their university offers may suffer since their test results will be lower than what their tutors had projected.
Due to the tougher grading this year, between 40,000 and 60,000 pupils are anticipated to fall short of their projected marks.
In order to prevent a “shock” on results day, John Blake, director for equitable access and participation at the higher education regulator, said it was “only right” to warn A-level students, the majority of whom are 18 years old, of depressing marks.
Mr. Blake said many schools acknowledged they had to address the problem, which intensified during the epidemic when tests were suspended, but had not translated it into expected marks. Ofqual wants to eliminate grade inflation.
Ofqual wants to lower the grade, but if you look at certain schools’ anticipated marks, which I have seen, he said: “They have acknowledged that outcomes would generally go down but not necessarily for them.”
He said, “That might lead to a lot of students feeling rather disappointed on the day that their results don’t line up to the grades that they were anticipating.” in a statement to the Daily Telegraph.
And I believe it’s important that people realise and perhaps brace themselves for it.
Whatever occurs, I believe there will be a lot of volatility, and people need to be ready for that, Mr. Blake said. And I believe it’s only fair to let pupils know that so it won’t come as a surprise to them.
His remarks come as research by the Daily Mail reveals competition to acquire On the day of the A-level results, there will be a tougher clearing period than in recent years, with some forecasting the worst clearing period in recent memory.
According to statistics, the number of last-minute courses offered at prestigious Russell Group institutions has decreased by half in only two years.
It implies that people who don’t get the marks required for their first-choice course would probably feel let down again when they look for a replacement.
According to Buckingham University’s Alan Smithers, a professor of education, “It will be one of the most competitive years, maybe the most competitive year ever.”
Furthermore, Lee Elliot Major, a professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, issued the following warning: “Students who get grades below a B will have to compete fiercely for positions.” The prior years’ assurances won’t apply this year.
Even students who get good marks would have a tougher time securing desired Clearing courses, according to Mr. Elliot Major, who cautioned: “High-achieving students will have to jockey for spots.” Missing classes might have a significant impact on a person’s future.
For the first time since the outbreak of the epidemic, teenagers will get their A-level results on Thursday after taking their examinations as usual this year.
But it’s anticipated that up to 60,000 students won’t get the desired marks.
By connecting them with open degree programmes on the Ucas website, clearing gives students a second opportunity to get into college.
The record number of 18-year-old applicants this year, however, will contribute to a decrease in the number of elite spots available.
Universities are also attempting to recover control of their enrollment following a rise in the previous two years.
Many schools urged thousands of A-level students to postpone their place last year because of this, and they will be filling spaces this year.
There are a limited amount of spots available, and last year’s over-recruitment by institutions has contributed to this, said Mr. Elliot Major. Additionally, the population of 18-year-olds is growing.
A push to attract wealthy overseas students may also be adding to the crunch, university authorities cautioned yesterday.
While the amount of foreign students attending Russell Group universities has increased, so too has the percentage of UK applicants who are turned down.
Only 2,353 full-time undergraduate degree programmes at 17 of the 24 Russell Group institutions were being promoted in England via Clearing at the end of last week, according to a Daily Mail study, only days before results day.
When compared to a comparable snapshot poll conducted five days before to A-level results day last year, the number of offered courses has decreased by 24%.
Students in England might enrol in 3,085 degree programmes at 15 leading institutions in 2021 because to clearing.
In 2020, when 4,509 top courses were advertised at 17 Russell Group institutions a week before the day of the A-level results, the number of top courses in Clearing was 48% lower.
The strain, according to Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), is due to a variety of factors, including institutions’ recent overexpansion and their need to curtail it, the deflation of A-level grades, an increase in applications, and more.
However, some of the pain has already been felt in that these very elite colleges were more demanding when making their offers.
“In sum, there may be more individuals who believe the university admittance system has jagged edges and who must come to terms with attending an institution that may not have been their first choice when completing their Ucas form,” the author writes.
As opposed to 38.6% in 2020 and 25.5% in 2019, a record 44.8% of submissions were rated at A or A* last year.
In 2021, 19.1% of submissions received an A*, compared to 7.8% in 2019 and 14.4% in 2020.
According to Ofqual’s announcement, the grade boundaries for this year will be generally placed between the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 and the teacher assessments used to determine grades in 2021.
Return to Exams, a study written by Mr. Smithers and released on Saturday, predicted that 13.5 percent of submissions would get an A* and 35 percent an A or A*. These numbers indicate a drop in A* and A grades of around 82,500 from the previous year.
The research said that more than 40,000 candidates “would be at danger of losing their chosen spot” if an average of two grades are reduced by each applicant impacted. But it’s possible the number may reach 60,000.
At 44.1%, the total university application rate for 18-year-olds in the UK is at a record high.
However, according to Ucas statistics, the percentage of applications that resulted in an offer from high tariff institutions, such as the Russell Group, has decreased from 60.5% in 2021 to 55.1% this summer.
Higher-tariff institutions “have rejected applications this year at a level rarely seen in a generation,” according to Mark Corver, co-founder of the dataHE consultancy and a former director of analysis and research at Ucas.
Additionally, institutions with lower admission standards, such as those with medium and lower tariffs, have “unusually decreased their offer rate.”
Students may need to be “a little bit more flexible on topic or university than in prior years,” he told the Daily Mail.
We do not find any indications in the statistics that these pressures will lessen in the next years, he said.
“There are situations when it makes sense to try again the following year, but students who are thinking of waiting another year simply in the expectation that the supply/demand balance would move in their favour may wind up being let down.”
“For a student who finds themselves without their company or insurance option, or if they have changed their mind, there is plenty of alternative available,” said Clare Marchant, chief executive of Ucas.
Students may investigate degree programmes along with alternative options, such as higher apprenticeships and other degree programmes, with the aid of Ucas.
It will be “a competitive year,” according to a representative for the Russell Group, but institutions are “working hard to provide as many individuals the chance to study with them as they can.”
Despite the stiffer competition, he said, “We’re happy that Ucas anticipates record numbers will gain their first choice this year on results days, and there are plenty of choices open to those who are unplaced or prefer to go through Clearing, including at most Russell Group institutions.”
Seven Russell Group universities—Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Imperial College London, Oxford, the London School of Economics, and UCL—did not offer any Clearing courses at the time of the Mail’s poll (University College London).
Only four courses were posted in Clearing for Glasgow, Leeds, and Birmingham.
Normally, Oxford and Cambridge do not participate in clearing.
Both Bristol University and Imperial College London said that they will not be doing any clearance recruitment for the year 2022.
Any cleared positions will be posted at 8 AM on results day, according to UCL, who also cautioned that it is “unlikely” that any will exist.
Additionally, Durham University said that any openings will be posted on the Ucas website after 8 a.m. on Thursday.
Ms. Marchant and Dr. Jo Saxton, the head regulator of Ofqual, have written to prospective students to reassure them about their findings.
They continued by saying that because this year’s findings were “a new sort of evaluation,” it was “not relevant” to compare them to the results from 2021.
According to the letter, over 75 percent of UK 18-year-old candidates were given their top option when examinations were last administered in 2019.
This year, UCAS anticipates that most students will get a spot at their first preference school on results day.
When issuing offers, universities take into consideration the total grade distribution for this year.
The findings from this year and those from 2021 cannot be meaningfully compared since the assessments used this year were different.
‘If you don’t receive the scores for your first option, you could still be admitted by your institution of choice, for instance, if you’re a grade below your offer.
City & Guilds, a company that creates technical credentials, has advised high school graduates to look at other options for getting into college.
Only 29% of UK occupations need a degree level qualification, according to data that showed 40% of students desire to attend university.
According to the report, some students may be “putting their future at risk” by taking on “unnecessary debt without a clear forward direction.”