Students with top A-level grades will be turned away from universities under the most competitive admissions process in living memory, an expert will say today.
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at Exeter University, believes this year will mark the start of a “new tougher era” in the battle for places and warned that poorer pupils could suffer for the next ten years.
Universities took on record numbers of students last year as so many achieved high exam grades, putting pressure on space for this year’s freshers.
The population of school-leavers has grown but the number of apprenticeships and school-leaver jobs has not kept pace, he will tell the Forum for Access and Continuing Education conference in Southampton.
