19 August 2014 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
It’s possible that over 500,000 students could be accepted onto undergraduate courses for the 2014/15 cycle once the clearing process is complete, according to UCAS. Following last week’s A-level results day, the figure stood at 412,000, up 3% on 2013 overall, with above average increases in Wales (5%) and Scotland (4%).
The UCAS figures also show that there has been an 8% increase in the number of students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds being accepted, but the participation rate between men and women has widened further, to 7.8%. This means that 13 women go to university for every 10 men.
Whilst welcoming the results, Will Hutton, writing in the Guardian, says that there is still much to be done to get poorer students into HE. Despite improvements, he points out that students from well-off groups are still ten times more likely to attend the most selective universities than those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.
