Tens of thousands of school students are waiting to hear if they have gained last minute spots on university courses. After A-level results were released last Thursday, school leavers throughout Britain are attempting to gain a precious university place through ‘clearing'.
‘Clearing' happens when the A-level results in Britain are announced. All the places on university courses held by students who then don't get the grades they need, are suddenly freed up. Other students can then attempt to fill these places by going through the process of ‘clearing'. UCAS, the university application system, confirmed almost 21,000 extra students have gained spaces through clearing, though as many as 162,000 are eligible for it.
All in all, almost 400,000 people who had provisional offers achieved the grades they needed and have been accepted onto university courses. Whilst this may sound like a lot, it is 30,000 down on the same time last year. Indeed, there are still 61,000 students waiting to find out if they have a place at their original choice of university. One reason for his could be the fact that for the first time in more than 20 years, A-level results as a whole were worse than the previous year.
