Clearing update - day 27

13 September 2006

Scottish institutions are down by 14.4% from 4,266 to 3,650 while acceptances of Scottish applicants to Scottish institutions are down by 2.3% from 24,596 to 24,019.

EU acceptances (excluding the UK and the Republic of Ireland) are up by 9.5% from 13,401 to 14,674. The countries that acceded to the EU on 1 May 2004 show a 31.5% increase in acceptances. The largest percentage increase is for Latvia, from 161 to 274 acceptances, or 70.2% - however this percentage increase should be considered in the context of the relatively small numbers involved.

China continues to be the overseas country with the most accepted applicants, down 7.7% from 4,181 to 3,860. Hong Kong, France, India, Singapore and the US are all showing rises in the number of accepted applicants at this point.

Law by area has the most accepted applicants at degree level with 14,414, down 1.9% followed by Design studies with 13,222 down 9.6% and Psychology with 12,683 down 5.1%.

The UCAS website carries student finance information on variable fees, bursaries, scholarships and grants for applicants wanting to find out what support is available to them.

Table 1 - Applicant statistics

  2006 2005 2004

Applicants accepted (1)

      

- having unconditional or confirmed conditional offers

341,582

357,989

330,414

- having found a place in Clearing

30,607

29,673

27,815
Total number of accepted applicants 372,189 387,662 358,229

Applicants with outcome pending (2)
- decision from institution or applicant reply

15,421

8,272

8,040

Applicants eligible for clearing (3)
- no offers, conditions not met, applied very late

96,879

107,652

98,017

Applicants withdrawn from scheme (4)

11,545

8,083

9,688
Total number of applicants 496,034 511,669 473,974

Days from publication of GCE results

27

27

27

Comparison date (5)

13/9/06

14/9/05

15/9/04

Number of institutions within UCAS membership that have received applications

327

325

323

Notes

  1. 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.

  2. The number of applicants "with decisions pending" is much higher for 2006 than in the previous two years. This can be attributed to the process of Rejecting outstanding Confirmation Decisions by Default being completed on 09/09/05 and 10/09/04 for the 2005 and 2004 cycles respectively, whereas for 2006 the equivalent process will not be actioned until 15 September. Consequently, in terms of "Pending" and "Eligible", figures will not be on a "like for like" basis until Monday 18 September.

  3. 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.

  4. Includes those withdrawn after accepting an offer.

  5. Comparisons with previous years are made relative to the publication of Advanced level results (17 August 2006, 18 August 2005 and 19 August 2004). For example, figures for Thursday, 31 August 2006, fourteen days after this year's publication date, will be compared with those for Thursday 1 September 2005 and Thursday 2 September 2004.

Table 2 - Acceptances from applicants by age group and gender

Year

Men

Women

Total

Under 21 years

2006

136,584

160,406

296,990

2005

142,675

165,908

308,583

% change

-4.3%

-3.3%

-3.8%

21 to 24 years

2006

19,943

19,561

39,504

2005

21,150

20,181

41,331

% change

-5.7%

-3.1%

-4.4%

25 years and over

2006

14,151

21,544

35,695

2005

15,185

22,563

37,748

% change

-6.8%

-4.5%

-5.4%

Total

2006

170,678

201,511

372,189

2005

179,010

208,652

387,662

% change

-4.7%

-3.4%

-4.0%

 

Table 3 - Acceptances by age and UK country

 

Home country of applicant

England

Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland

Total

Under 21 years

2006

224,558

12,994

20,195

10,890

268,637

2005

237,018

13,099

20,673

11,724

282,514

% change

-5.3%

-0.8%

-2.3%

-7.1%

-4.9%

21 to 24 years

2006

23,817

1,360

2,688

1,132

28,997

2005

24,969

1,395

2,660

1,198

30,222

% change

-4.6%

-2.5%

1.1%

-5.5%

-4.1%

25 years and over

2006

25,475

1,673

2,908

774

30,830

2005

26,856

1,714

3,161

826

32,557

% change

-5.1%

-2.4%

-8.0%

-6.3%

-5.3%

Total

2006

273,850

16,027

25,791

12,796

328,464

2005

288,843

16,208

26,494

13,748

345,293

% change

-5.2%

-1.1%

-2.7%

-6.9%

-4.9%

 

Table 4 - Acceptances by area of domicile and country of accepting institution

Area of Permanent Residence

Country of institution

England

Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland

Total

England

2006

261,837

8,245

3,650

118

273,850

2005

275,069

9,387

4,266

121

288,843

% change

-4.8%

-12.2%

-14.4%

-2.5%

-5.2%

Wales

2006

5,273

10,652

98

4

16,027

2005

6,262

9,808

131

7

16,208

% change

-15.8%

8.6%

-25.2%

-42.9%

-1.1%

Scotland

2006

1,702

58

24,019

12

25,791

2005

1,819

61

24,596

18

26,494

% change

-6.4%

-4.9%

-2.3%

-33.3%

-2.7%

Northern Ireland

2006

3,475

112

1,235

7,974

12,796

2005

3,084

108

1,257

9,299

13,748

% change

12.7%

3.7%

-1.8%

-14.2%

-6.9%

Rep. of Ireland

2006

1,315

231

733

354

2,633

2005

1,407

270

778

709

3,164

% change

-6.5%

-14.4%

-5.8%

-50.1%

-16.8%

Other EU

2006

12,058

471

2,128

17

14,674

2005

11,410

373

1,598

20

13,401

% change

5.7%

26.3%

33.2%

-15.0%

9.5%

Other overseas

2006

23,119

755

2,496

48

26,418

2005

22,983

834

1,926

61

25,804

% change

0.6%

-9.5%

29.6%

-21.3%

2.4%

Total

2006

308,779

20,524

34,359

8,527

372,189

2005

322,034

20,841

34,552

10,235

387,662

% change

-4.1%

-1.5%

-0.6%

-16.7%

-4.0%

 

Table 5 - Acceptances by overseas country (> 600 Acceptances only)

Country

2006

2005

Percent change

China

3,860

4,181

-7.7%

Ireland

2,633

3,164

-16.8%

Hong Kong

2,250

2,036

10.5%

France

2,142

2,069

3.5%

Nigeria

2,071

3,041

-31.9%

Germany

1,953

1,966

-0.7%

Cyprus

1,935

1,661

16.5%

Malaysia

1,661

1,844

-9.9%

Poland

1,497

954

56.9%

Not Known (1)

1,444

214

574.8%

Greece

1,397

1,361

2.6%

India

1,386

1,197

15.8%

Pakistan

1,269

1,337

-5.1%

United States of America

1,089

917

18.8%

Singapore

722

613

17.8%

Sweden

694

734

-5.4%

Spain

651

725

-10.2%

Sri Lanka

636

663

-4.1%

All overseas

43,725

42,369

3.2%

 

Table 5 notes

  1. The number of acceptances in the "not known" category has shown a large rise this year. This figure largely consists of applicants who have been accepted by an institution directly and their application details being "backfilled" into the UCAS system. Known as a Record of Prior Acceptance (RPA) - some of these details can remain incomplete.

Table 6 - Applicants who had an Area of Permanent Residence within a 'new' EU accession member country by country of residence

Country

2006

2005

Percent change

Cyprus

1,935

1,661

16.5%

Poland

1,497

954

56.9%

Lithuania

447

272

64.3%

Latvia

274

161

70.2%

Czech Republic

211

213

-0.9%

Slovakia

178

145

22.8%

Hungary

166

149

11.4%

Estonia

125

119

5.0%

Malta

80

47

70.2%

Slovenia

22

31

-29.0%

Total

4,935

3,752

31.5%

Table 7 - Acceptances by subject (all subjects)

Press contacts:

Byron Price, Communications Executive
Tel: 01242 544987
Email: b.price@ucas.ac.uk
Mobile:07768 740 461

Notes to editors:

  • 288 out of 325 member institutions (32,282 courses) are still advertising vacancies on the UCAS website.

  • Applicants seeking advice on Clearing should contact the UCAS Customer Services Unit on 0870 1122211 open Monday to Friday 08.30 to 18.00 or go to www.ucas.com

  • UCAS is the organisation responsible for managing applications to UK higher education courses.

  • Daily statistics will be available on the UCAS website.

  • 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 from Thursday 17 August, until Wednesday 20 September. Applicants can search for courses by subject; by university or college; or by region. The list will be updated continuously. During Clearing 2005 ucas.com course vacancy searches totalled 1,495,434.

  • A UCAS spokesperson is available for interview.

  • Further information on the application process, Clearing and Clearing statistics are on the UCAS website.

  • Clearing helps people find vacancies on full-time undergraduate courses at UK universities and colleges after the main UCAS application period has finished. Last year 37,197 people found places through Clearing. The percentage of applicants accepted in Clearing (as a percentage of the total accepted applicants) was 7.4%.

  • As at 30 June 2006, 469,731 people had applied to UK universities and colleges. Applications received after this date are entered directly into Clearing.