{"id":738028,"date":"2026-08-14T18:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/738028\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T18:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:40:10","slug":"students-squeezed-out-of-university-courses-after-bumper-a-level-grades-admissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/738028\/","title":{"rendered":"Students squeezed out of university courses after bumper A-level grades | Admissions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students across the UK have found themselves unexpectedly squeezed out of their desired university courses as this year\u2019s bumper crop of A-level grades<\/a> \u200bh\u200bas not always translated into \u200b\u200bthe places many were hoping for.<\/p>\n

\u200bWith close to a third of the A-levels awarded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland<\/a> achieving the top A and A* grades this year, universities are taking a tougher stance by rejecting students who narrowly missed their expected grades and who in previous years would still have gained a place.<\/p>\n

The stronger competition has tipped record numbers of applicants into clearing, or settling for their second choices, with universities in some cases wanting students to defer for a year.<\/p>\n

Cardiff \u200bUniversity \u200bh\u200bas asked students on two programmes to defer until 2027, after more than expected achieved their required grades, leaving it with a surplus of qualified applicants for courses such as midwifery.\u200b<\/p>\n

The university said it had asked \u201ca small number\u201d of applicants to defer, with limits on its intake previously agreed with the Welsh government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand this will be deeply disappointing for those affected, and our immediate priority is to support these students and ensure they receive clear guidance as they consider their next steps,\u201d a spokesperson for Cardiff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to be clear that Cardiff University<\/a> has not over-offered places. As with all universities, offers are made based on detailed modelling of applicant behaviour and historical acceptance patterns. This year, an exceptionally high number of applicants met the conditions of their offers and accepted places, resulting in demand exceeding the number of commissioned places available.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been an extremely difficult decision \u2026 and we explored every possible option to avoid activating the university\u2019s oversubscription policy for these two courses.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least one applicant said she had complained to the Office for Students, telling Wales Online<\/a> that Cardiff had offered her a \u00a3750 bursary to defer or lose her place. The Office for Students does not regulate universities in Wales.<\/p>\n

Geography course closures have been announced at Exeter\u2019s Cornwall campus, with students told to change courses or move to the Devon campus (pictured). Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Ucas figures show that this year, 73% of students in England<\/a>, Wales and Northern Ireland were given firm offers after grades were issued, below the 76% with firm offers in 2024 and 2025. A record 23,000 students have already deferred their places this year.<\/p>\n

Figures published on Friday show record numbers of students were eligible for clearing, the post-results process to apply for courses with unfilled places.<\/p>\n

The proportion of applicants receiving their first-choice course offer was lower this year at 79%, compared with 82% last year, while the proportion placed at their \u201cinsurance\u201d choice increased.<\/p>\n

The competition for places has increased as a result of selective universities growing less slowly than last year, despite record numbers of applications. While selective universities received almost 10% more applications this year, the universities have only increased offers by 5% compared with 2025.<\/p>\n

The swathe of course closures and staff cuts set off by university restructuring has also affected students. Those offered places on geography courses at the University of Exeter\u2019s Cornwall campus near Falmouth have now been told<\/a> to either change courses or be moved to Exeter\u2019s main campus in Devon, after the course closures were suddenly announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students across the UK have found themselves unexpectedly squeezed out of their desired university courses as this year\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-738028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}