Students receiving their A-level results will have an easier time getting their preferred university placement compare with those from the past two years, experts are predicting. A record number of 18-year-olds are competing for places this year but according to experts, many universities are hoping to fill accommodation and lecture theatres with more students from the UK.
This is because of their anxiety over falling numbers of “lucrative” international students. School leavers this year are the first in five years to have sat both their GCSE and A-level exams, will also not be expected to deal with the pandemic distorting the spaces available in universities.
Leading institution were forced to accept thousands more than they had planned to after A-level grades were inflated in 2020. They are now no longer being cautious about the offers because they expect students to have worked their way through the system with their grades returning to a normal level.
“All the signs are there that for 18-year-olds holding offers it will be a better admissions cycle than in either 2022 or 2023,” Mark Corver, a former director of admissions service UCAS who runs DataHE, a consultancy advising universities on admissions.
Lower as well as medium tariff universities had the highest offer rate for UK students this year, Corver’s analysis of UCAS data shows. The offer rate at the most selective high tariff universities returned to 69% after dropping to 61% in 2022.
The number of international students applying for visas to study in the UK has fallen by 15% over the past year. This is following rule changes from the Conservative government about bringing family members into the country.
