Sixth-formers are rushing to take up places at the most selective universities, with figures showing a substantial increase in the numbers enrolling compared with last year after receiving their A-level results.
Experts said that “high tariff” universities, including those in the Russell Group of research intensive universities, were allocating more places to UK school-leavers this year after recruiting fewer international students.
Many universities were also able to admit more students after the supersized undergraduate cohorts admitted during the Covid pandemic graduated this summer, freeing up more space.
Armed with better than expected sets of A-level grades issued on Thursday, school-leavers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have taken advantage by quickly confirming offers or applying through clearing.
Figures released by the Ucas admissions service on Friday showed that 100,000 UK 18-year-olds have already accepted places at higher-tariff providers such as Bath or Loughborough universities, a 13% increase compared with 2023 and a record outside the pandemic-affected admissions season of 2021.
Those numbers are likely to increase, with a number of Russell Group universities including Cardiff, York and University College London with vacancies still on offer through clearing.
Mark Corver, the head of dataHE, which works with universities on admissions, said the full picture would not be clear until Monday but the early signs were of a strong admissions round with a record number of school-leavers finding places through clearing.
Corver said: “The absence of a big fall in A-level grades has definitely helped. But the driver at this stage is an abrupt rediscovery of interest in UK 18-year-olds from the more selective universities.
“For some the large graduating cohorts this summer and last will have given extra capacity. But more important, we think, is a greater appreciation of the [financial] risks associated with not balancing the intakes of home and international students.”
After greatly expanding recruitment of international students, especially among postgraduate students on taught courses, some universities have found themselves struggling to attract more this year.
With the more prestigious, high-tariff providers taking an increased share of students, the remaining universities will be hoping there are enough left over for them to avoid financial difficulties.
Corver said: “The funding position for UK undergraduates remains awful, slightly worse again than last year. But some universities seem to have reconsidered them as the least-worst option for this year.”
The day after A-levels were published, high-tariff universities had accepted 130,000 students on courses, compared with just under 120,000 last year and 106,000 in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic.
Medium-tariff universities, such as Nottingham Trent and Hull, had accepted a shade under 130,000 UK students for courses starting in the autumn, slightly higher than last year. Lower-tariff providers have accepted 128,000 UK students, about 3,000 fewer than at the same point in 2023.
The division into high, medium and low is based on the average grades achieved for each student accepted, with Ucas setting an A-level A* as 56 tariff points and a C as 32 points. By this time in 2023, lower-tariff universities had accepted 10,000 more students than high-tariff universities.
The improvement in A* and A grades awarded in England – the highest on record outside the pandemic years when grades were awarded more generously – led to more students than ever meeting their expected grades and accepting their confirmed places.
Nearly 244,000 students had found places on results day, with high-tariff universities the most prominent beneficiaries, although acceptances from students in Wales and Northern Ireland – where the share of top A-level grades fell compared with last year – were more muted.
