Desperate scramble for places at university places

Record numbers of teenagers snapped up university places within hours of receiving their A-level results yesterday.

By mid-morning, a total of 340,105 had their places confirmed – up 9.1 per cent on last year. At the same time, 2,628 applicants had gained a university place through the clearing system – a rise of 6.5 per cent.

However, a further 111,388 applicants were still eligible for the remaining 40,000 clearing places. Ucas reported 307,906 searches of its website yesterday. Anthony McClaran, chief executive of Ucas, said: "Our admissions colleagues in the universities and colleges have worked incredibly hard to ensure that decisions are being made quicker than ever."

The rise in applications means ministers will make progress towards their target of getting 50 per cent of young people into higher education by the end of decade. In an interview with The Independent, Bill Rammell , the Higher Education minister, said the target was extremely important but added: "We recognise that it's not only about 50 per cent of young people going to university so we have added an additional target for 40 per cent of the adult workforce to go into higher education by 2020."