Students should ‘think very carefully’ about deferring their university places, chief warns

Students should ‘think very carefully’ about deferring their university places until next year as it is likely to get more competitive, a universities chief has warned.

As tens of thousands await their A-level results on Thursday, the interim chief executive of Universities UK has said that despite this year’s competition for university spaces being one of the toughest yet, the pattern is likely to continue next year.

Speaking during a UCAS-hosted Facebook Live session on Wednesday, hours before students find out their grades, Chris Hale said there is ‘big demand’ for university places this year.

He said: ‘I think going to university this year in 2022 is a great option. There’s lots of options and opportunities available. Lots of courses are available across the system.’

He described going to university as ‘a great investment for young people’, saying employment opportunities are often better and wages higher.

Students should ‘think very carefully’ about deferring their university places until next year as it is likely to get more competitive, a universities chief has warned (file photo)

He added: ‘There’s big demand for university places this year. If you are thinking of deferring and going to university next year, make sure you talk to your school, make sure you talk to your parents, your counsellors and those closest to you and just think through that decision.

‘I think it’s really important because, next year, I think, there is growing demand for higher education, so it’s going to continue to be as competitive, so my advice would be to think very carefully about deferring.’

Grades are expected to be down this year compared with last year – when students were teacher-assessed – and it is thought almost 40 per cent of students are likely to use the clearing system to get a place on a course.

Interim chief executive of Universities UK, Chris Hale, pictured, said there is ‘big demand’ for university places this year

In a report published at the weekend, Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, said there could be 80,000 fewer top grades – A* or A – awarded than in 2021, meaning 40,000 students could miss out on their course or university of choice.

Grades are still expected to be higher than before the pandemic.

Writer for higher education debate website WonkHE, Jim Dickinson told The Times: ‘Those who don’t get into their first-choice university would be taking a massive gamble if they took a year out rather than finding an alternative in clearing, unless their certain to be in the top three graduate earning deciles.’