A-level pupils face a ‘frantic’ struggle to win university places

General secretary of the University and College union warns that stakes are high this year for those in the clearing system The clearing process for teenagers who fail to make their A-level grades this summer will be “the most frantic and stressful in living memory”, the general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU) has warned. Sally Hunt, the leader of the lecturers’ trade union, said: “The stakes have never been higher for university applicants. With tuition fees set to treble from 2012, demand for places this summer is likely to be unprecedented. “I fear that clearing will be the most frantic and stressful in living memory with thousands of young people, encouraged to aspire to university throughout their lives, left disappointed. Those who are unable to get a place this year face the prospect of having to pay the highest public university fees in the world.” However, Mary Curnock Cook, the chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), told the Observer there were no signs that the near-trebling of tuition fees would spark a dramatic rise in competition for places. She predicted that the number of students eligible to enter clearing would be similar to last year – just over 209,000 – and they will be competing for roughly the same number of places – just over

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