University places filling fast with 'high-calibre' students

Record numbers of A-level students have been accepted by universities within the first two days of the publication of their exam results.

Many universities reported yesterday that they had fewer course vacancies than this time last year after students clamoured to find out what was available.

Admissions departments said they were recruiting students of "high calibre" who were meeting or even exceeding the A-level point score requirements for courses.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), said yesterday that a total of 270,417 students had their places confirmed within the first 24 hours of receiving their results, compared with 248,091 the previous year.

Of those, 2,233 were placed through the clearing system - a rise on the previous year's figure of 1,770.

Universities were optimistic yesterday that most of their places would be filled within a few days - instead of the usual 10-day frantic period of youngsters shopping around on the clearing system.

The A-level results also saw a record pass rate - 95.4 per cent - and a rise in the number of pupils getting A-grade passes, from 20.7 per cent to 21.6 per cent. It is anticipated that an extra 15,000 students will start university courses this autumn compared with last year.

Anthony McClaran, acting chief executive of Ucas, said: "This year has been a record year for the number of students having their places confirmed on the first day.

"The whole process has been fantastically speeded up this year through the use of electronic services. UCAS staff have been working round the clock to get the results out to the universities and decisions to the students."

Within four hours of students getting their results, there had been a staggering 262,000 hits on www.ucas.com - the official Ucas website which gives details of all the course offers available in Britain.

Many universities - such as Surrey, Durham, Manchester and Leeds - said they had very few vacancies. Some said they still had places on science courses to fill - Leeds had some in physical sciences and biology and Cardiff said its main vacancies were in physics and chemistry.

Northumbria said vacancies in maths, engineering and chemical studies were "moving more slowly". Kent said its main shortage areas were science and foreign languages.

This year's A-level results showed that students were opting for more "modern" subjects - such as psychology and media studies - with the numbers taking science subjects and modern languages falling.

Universities predicted that most students who failed to get the right grades for provisional offers would be snapped up by rival institutions.

As The Independent revealed this week, even students who fail their A-levels will have a chance of going to university.

Ministers are encouraging the opening of new routes to university, which means A-level failures could either seek a vocational qualification or qualify for an access course to higher education. Either route could see them accepted on to a degree course within a year.

Universities say it will be essential to take in students through non-traditional routes if they are to meet the Government's target of getting 50 per cent of people aged 18 to 30 into higher education by 2010.

Research by Clare Bolton and Katie Long