13:47

Today the Guardian has been at the University of Greenwich, where the phone lines have been inundated with students inquiring about the places on offer through clearing, write Aamna Mohdin and Adhiti Shenava.

“A lot of people have rearranged their annual leave to be here today,” said Mark Betteney, the deputy head of the secondary education department. “There was a time, 10 years ago, where we wouldn’t be recruiting over the summer but recruitment has become a lot more difficult.

“There has been a pronounced trend of people not applying to university until they have got their results. I have a great deal of sympathy with that and would personally welcome a change in structure in that people once they knew their results.”



Charlotte Nickson, 24, who earned a place at the university through last year’s clearing cycle, spoke of how her experience, though stressful, was made as “easy and painless as possible” by the team on the other side of the phone.



“At the end of the conversation I was quite excited and proud of myself to have gone through clearing, an achievement in itself, especially given the health problems I had during my A-levels, so I was really happy to start university that summer.”



She also supports a change in the application process, saying she would back “anything that makes people face less pressure, especially at the age of only 18.”



Nickson was keen to see what happened on the other side of her phone call and step in to this year’s hectic clearing office.