School leavers face competition for university places this summer due to more 18-year-olds in the population, Ucas and Ofqual bosses have said.
Ahead of A-level results day next month, students have been told to “take some time to thoroughly consider” all options available to them – including degrees, apprenticeships and employment.
But students should be “mindful” that the most selective courses “do get filled quickly”, Ofqual’s chief regulator Jo Saxton and Ucas’ chief executive Clare Marchant have said.
A joint letter from the exams regulator and university admissions service reminds students in England awaiting their results that GCSE, AS and A-level “grading standards are returning to normal” following pandemic disruption.
It comes after Covid-19 led to an increase in top grades in 2020 and 2021, with results based on teacher assessments instead of exams.
The letter to students says: “There is, however, some grading protection built in to the overall national results (not at individual student level), because of the disruption students have faced.
