information
22 August 2007
A record 345,904 applicants due to start full-time undergraduate courses this autumn have been placed through UCAS so far this year. This breaks the previous record set in 2005 when 335,912 applicants had a place confirmed by this point.
8,299 (1.6%) of these applicants have found a place through Clearing compared with 7,180 (1.5%) in 2006 and 6,226 (1.2%) in 2005. By the time Clearing ends on September 20 almost 40,000 students are expected to have found a place through the system. At present 109,210 applicants are still eligible for Clearing.
Anthony McClaran, UCAS Chief Executive said: "There are still plenty of opportunities for people to find a higher education place through Clearing with almost 36,000 courses still advertising vacancies.
"For us, the extraordinary record this year has been the surge in the number of people using Track on the UCAS website to monitor their applications. We had a peak of 70 logins per second this year compared with 47 last year.
"We've also been impressed by how well some of our innovations have faired. For example our social networking site yougofurther.co.uk has been busy with students getting to know each other before they set off for HE, swapping advice and experiences, and a steady stream of applicants have visited our fledgling "island" in Second Life to talk to advisers there too."
Table 1: Acceptances from applicants by age group and gender
| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | |
Applicants accepted (1) |
|||
- having unconditional or confirmed |
337,605 |
317,927 |
329,686 |
- having found a place in Clearing |
8,299 |
7,180 |
6,226 |
| Total number of accepted applicants | 345,904 | 325,107 | 335,912 |
Applicants with outcome pending |
47,655 |
43,292 |
47,661 |
Applicants eligible for clearing (2) |
109,210 |
108,874 |
113,676 |
Applicants withdrawn from scheme (3) |
7,040 |
6,806 |
3,974 |
| Total number of applicants | 509,809 | 484,079 | 501,223 |
Days from publication of GCE results |
6 |
6 |
6 |
Comparison date (4) |
22/08/07 |
23/08/06 |
24/08/05 |
Number of institutions within UCAS membership that have received applications |
322 |
327 |
325 |
Notes
Includes those deferring entry to the following year. (Applicants are counted in the year in which they apply, not the year in which they intend to begin their course.)
Eligible applicants are sent details of Clearing, but as they do not have to register with UCAS to take part, the number active is not known.
Includes those withdrawn after accepting an offer.
Comparisons with previous years are made relative to the publication of Advanced level results (16 August 2007, 17 August 2006 and 18 August 2005). For example, figures for Thursday, 30 August 2007, fourteen days after this year's publication date, will be compared with those for Thursday 31 August 2006 and Thursday 01 September 2005.
Table 2: Acceptances from applicants by age group and gender
Accepted applicants |
Men |
Women |
Total |
|
Under 21 years |
2007 |
128,112 |
155,211 |
283,323 |
2006 |
120,981 |
145,330 |
266,311 |
|
% change |
5.9% |
6.8% |
6.4% |
|
21 to 24 years |
2007 |
16,702 |
17,035 |
33,737 |
2006 |
15,344 |
15,562 |
30,906 |
|
% change |
8.9% |
9.5% |
9.2% |
|
25 years and over |
2007 |
11,436 |
17,408 |
28,844 |
2006 |
11,018 |
16,872 |
27,890 |
|
% change |
3.8% |
3.2% |
3.4% |
|
Total |
2007 |
156,250 |
189,654 |
345,904 |
2006 |
147,343 |
177,764 |
325,107 |
|
% change |
6.0% |
6.7% |
6.4% |
|
Table 3: Acceptances by area of domicile and country of accepting institution
Area of Permanent Residence |
Country of institution |
|||||
England |
Wales |
Scotland |
Northern Ireland |
Total |
||
England |
2007 |
245,034 |
7,845 |
3,652 |
116 |
256,647 |
2006 |
228,511 |
7,572 |
3,477 |
112 |
239,672 |
|
% change |
7.2% |
3.6% |
5.0% |
3.6% |
7.1% |
|
Wales |
2007 |
4,811 |
9,679 |
107 |
6 |
14,603 |
2006 |
4,879 |
9,136 |
92 |
3 |
14,110 |
|
% change |
-1.4% |
5.9% |
16.3% |
100.0% |
3.5% |
|
Scotland |
2007 |
1,551 |
31 |
21,982 |
19 |
23,583 |
2006 |
1,528 |
50 |
21,663 |
10 |
23,251 |
|
% change |
1.5% |
-38.0% |
1.5% |
90.0% |
1.4% |
|
Northern Ireland |
2007 |
2,989 |
97 |
1,053 |
7,242 |
11,381 |
2006 |
3,129 |
106 |
1,147 |
7,053 |
11,435 |
|
% change |
-4.5% |
-8.5% |
-8.2% |
2.7% |
-0.5% |
|
Other EU |
2007 |
13,100 |
638 |
2,980 |
482 |
17,200 |
2006 |
11,478 |
589 |
2,648 |
415 |
15,130 |
|
% change |
14.1% |
8.3% |
12.5% |
16.1% |
13.7% |
|
Other overseas |
2007 |
19,462 |
697 |
2,288 |
43 |
22,490 |
2006 |
18,705 |
604 |
2,161 |
39 |
21,509 |
|
% change |
4.0% |
15.4% |
5.9% |
10.3% |
4.6% |
|
Total |
2007 |
286,947 |
18,987 |
32,062 |
7,908 |
345,904 |
2006 |
268,230 |
18,057 |
31,188 |
7,632 |
325,107 |
|
% change |
7.0% |
5.2% |
2.8% |
3.6% |
6.4% |
|
Table 4: Acceptances (UK domiciled applicants only) by age and UK country
Accepted applicants (UK only) |
Home country of applicant |
|||||
England |
Wales |
Scotland |
Northern Ireland |
Total |
||
Under 21 years |
2007 |
215,416 |
11,952 |
18,697 |
9,873 |
255,938 |
2006 |
201,667 |
11,706 |
18,716 |
9,878 |
241,967 |
|
% change |
6.8% |
2.1% |
-0.1% |
-0.1% |
5.8% |
|
21 to 24 years |
2007 |
20,642 |
1,215 |
2,399 |
889 |
25,145 |
2006 |
18,382 |
1,068 |
2,151 |
914 |
22,515 |
|
% change |
12.3% |
13.8% |
11.5% |
-2.7% |
11.7% |
|
25 years and over |
2007 |
20,589 |
1,436 |
2,487 |
619 |
25,131 |
2006 |
19,623 |
1,336 |
2,384 |
643 |
23,986 |
|
% change |
4.9% |
7.5% |
4.3% |
-3.7% |
4.8% |
|
Total |
2007 |
256,647 |
14,603 |
23,583 |
11,381 |
306,214 |
2006 |
239,672 |
14,110 |
23,251 |
11,435 |
288,468 |
|
% change |
7.1% |
3.5% |
1.4% |
-0.5% |
6.2% |
|
Table 5: Top 20 keyword subject searches through Clearing so far in 2007
Subject |
Total searches |
|
1 |
Law |
62,448 |
2 |
Psychology |
35,361 |
3 |
Economics |
34,108 |
4 |
Business Management |
26,898 |
5 |
History |
22,509 |
6 |
Business Studies |
20,730 |
7 |
Accounting |
20,489 |
8 |
Accountancy |
20,261 |
9 |
Mathematics |
19,649 |
10 |
English Literature |
19,039 |
11 |
Medicine |
18,877 |
12 |
Biomedical Science |
18,795 |
13 |
English |
16,994 |
14 |
Pharmacy: Registered |
16,674 |
15 |
Social Work |
13,943 |
16 |
Politics Or Government |
12,302 |
17 |
Civil Engineering |
11,614 |
18 |
Geography |
11,232 |
19 |
Chemistry |
10,070 |
20 |
Sports Science/Studies |
9,565 |
Table 6: Acceptances by subject
Notes to editors
Applicants seeking advice on Clearing should contact the UCAS Customer Services Unit on 0870 1122211 or go to www.ucas.com.
UCAS is the organisation responsible for managing applications to UK higher education courses. Track is an online service used to track the progress of an application and reply to offers. The service is updated continuously and is the most efficient way to keep track of an application, especially during Confirmation and Clearing. Applicants can also use it to find out their Clearing number.
UCAS Clearing vacancy service - all courses with vacancies are listed on the UCAS website until 17 September.
The Exam Results Helpline (0808 100 8000), is provided by the DCSF in conjunction with UCAS and BBC Radio. Advisers are on hand to deal with queries, offering free, independent and confidential advice to school and college leavers on their post-exam options, particularly those in Clearing. The advisers have access to an online database developed by the DCSF and UCAS, which gives up to the minute information about course availability.
Media contacts
Byron Price, Communications Executive
Telephone: 01242 544987
Email: communications@ucas.ac.uk
Out of hours: 07768 740 461
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