More students from disadvantaged backgrounds offered university place

A record number of 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds in England have been accepted into university – up 7.3% on last year’s results day, according to UCAS.

This means 18.8% of all young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are due to start an undergraduate degree .

In Wales, 17.4% from the most disadvantaged backgrounds (1,310 students) have been accepted, and in Northern Ireland the proportion is 18.3% (790 students) – these are also both new records.

Across the UK, 30.2% (210,260 students) of all 18 year olds have been accepted through UCAS – another high for results day despite there being 1.5% fewer 18 year olds in the UK population than last year. The equivalent figure for 2019 was 28.2%. For 18 year olds from England, this figure is 30.4%, for Wales it is 27.3%, and for Northern Ireland, it is 36.0%.

358,860 people (of all ages) from across the UK have been accepted so far this year – a 2.9% increase compared to results day 2019. 316,730 of these have been accepted onto their first (firm) choice of course – up 2.7% on this point in 2019.