Middle-class teenagers and their parents are increasingly using university clearing to shop around for the best courses to the detriment of their less well-off peers, education experts have warned ahead of A-level results day next week.

A growing number of applicants are picking and choosing better offers as the Russell Group of leading research universities have significantly increased the number of students they accept through clearing in recent years, according to admissions officers.

But school leavers from disadvantaged backgrounds lack the confidence and parental and school support that enable their more affluent peers to take advantage of the rising importance of clearing, educational charities said.

Sir Peter Lampl, the founder of the Sutton Trust, which works to improve social mobility and tackle educational disadvantage, said: “A lot of well-off parents are on top of this as soon as their kids’ grades come out. They’re talking to universities, they’re getting their kids into the best courses.

“Kids from low to moderate income backgrounds don’t have parents who can play the system and they’re not at schools geared up to getting kids into Russell Group universities. So in that sense, clearing is unfair.”

The warning comes after teaching unions said the overhaul of A-levels and GCSEs has increased pressure on pupils to do well and led to more anxiety and stress. A National Education Union poll, which questioned 656 teachers working in English secondary schools, found 66% believed the assessment methods for the new A-levels are worse for schoolchildren’s mental health than before.

Q&A What is clearing? Show Hide Clearing is part of the admissions process matching students with unfilled places at UK universities.



The number of clearing acceptances reached a record high last year, according to Ucas figures, including huge increases at 10 of the highest-ranked universities with stricter entry criteria. For example, the number of clearing acceptances at Nottingham University rose from 180 to 995 between 2011 and 2017, while Newcastle University’s number went up from 95 to 805, and Liverpool University from 225 to 690.

Emma Leech, the director of marketing and advancement at Loughborough University, said the increases were “scary”. “They are walloping up their numbers through clearing,” she added.

Since the removal of the cap three years ago on the number of undergraduates universities can recruit, there has been fierce competition to attract students. Combined with fewer 18-year-olds in the population, it has led to a buyer’s market for university applicants.

“We’re seeing a trend of people who have had a university offer – sometimes unconditional – but they are changing their mind [at clearing]. It’s almost [like they’re] savvy shoppers,” Leech said.

“Now they might get three offers in the bank before they decide what they want to do. That’s a new thing in the past two years.”

Amanda Grimshaw, an admissions manager for the school of social sciences at Manchester University, said: “I’m seeing students being more organised [for clearing], or their parents are. They’re calling before [results day] or visiting the university in the past month.”

Nick Hillman, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said the most popular courses were filling up through clearing within one or two days. He advised students from disadvantaged backgrounds with slightly worse than predicted or better than predicted grades to flag up the challenges they faced to university admissions officers.



“The new Office for Students measures universities on their ability to recruit people from underrepresented groups. The best thing is to be very clear with the university about any disadvantages they may have experienced,” he said.



Grimshaw agreed that applications should tell admissions officers about any disadvantages they face, such as problems with their school and deprivation.

Applicants who dropped a single grade were likely to still be admitted, she said, and Manchester University was introducing lower offers for applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds from next year.

Lampl said: “A lot of universities are doing contextual admissions, which is a posh way of saying they’re giving poor students a break on their offer. It’s a good idea to say ‘I’m from a low to moderate income background, give me a break’.”