Record number of students set to attend University this year

By Jasmine Davey

 This morning, A-Level students across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland received their results. With these grades, they find out whether they met the criteria for their ‘firm choice’ university, or need to go through the ‘clearing’ system. 

UCAS has reported that 439,180 applicants have been accepted onto a university course, which is a 3.1% increase from last year. 52% of students were accepted into their ‘firm’/first choice institution.

The regional gap has widened this year, with a 9.2 percentage point gap between London and the North East. The latter recorded the lowest number of top A-Level grades, with only 22.9% awarded at A or A*, and just 6.8% at A*. This is a 1% decrease from last year. The North East, alongside the West Midlands, is the only region to experience a year-on-year drop in grade results. 

Despite the low regional results throughout the North East, Durham Sixth Form Centre, Durham University’s second highest feeder school, boasted that two thirds of its A-Level entries were awarded A*-B. Durham High School, a private school also located in Durham City, achieved a third of A*-A results, with a 100% pass rate. 

According to its Instagram story, Durham University closed all its clearing courses for home students after 8am this morning, when results were released. Clearing places for international students are still open. 

Image credit: Thomas Tomlinson