STUDENTS are facing a mad scramble today to try and secure a place at their preferred university, apprenticeship or college after Gavin Williamson ripped up the A-level grades yesterday.
The Education Secretary sparked mass panic after he said the Government would revert to using teacher-predicted grades rather than computer-generated algorithms, or whichever was the higher mark.
The Government has said it wants all universities to honour their offers made to students – even though many have already dished them out to other people now.
55,000 students who had lost out on their first choice of university are now desperately scrambling to try and get in, now they have their required grades.
The Department for Education has said they can give up their other offers if they get their original firm choice confirmed.
Unis will face a logistical nightmare trying to reallocate thousands of places over the next week.
Mr Williamson has ripped up the cap on student numbers but many will still be unable to squeeze in the extra pupils.
It’s not clear whether universities have a legal obligation to dish out more offers.
Some have taken legal advice to try and figure out what they have to do, The Times reported.
The number of people who qualify for their first choice offers will now have risen hugely as a result of taking the highest grade students get.
Usually universities offer more places to students – as many won’t meet their marks or will change their minds.
One head of admissions said it was “unthinkable” that anyone made an offer would have it withdrawn, the paper said.
However, he said that he had “no idea” about what to do with the thousands of applicants who were now able to claim their place.
