A-Level Results: Clearing scheme flooded by calls

THE ANNUAL rush to fill university places has had its busiest start. A record 202,000 people had university or college places confirmed by yesterday afternoon.

Another 119,118 people were still awaiting decisions and 90,241 will go straight into the clearing system, which matches students to unfilled places, according to figures released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas).

Universities reported brisk business, with little disruption from the boycott of admissions work by members of the Association of University Teachers.

But the start of the two-day boycott - backing their 10 per cent pay claim - meant several universities had to rely on secretarial and administrative staff to field calls from students whose A-level grades were not what they had hoped for.

University College London said it was "business as usual" yesterday. York, Warwick, Sussex and Surrey also said they were unaffected.

The AUT, however, claimed success. "Every department is taking part in the boycott. Clearing has been delayed," said Natalie Fenton, a lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University. "We've been put in a position where we have no choice but to do this."

Tony Higgins, the chief executive of Ucas, said the system was working smoothly. "The AUT has threatened to boycott admissions work in the older universities, which make up only a third of the 257 universities and college recruiting students through Ucas. But many of those are working fairly normally anyway, so we are advising students to go ahead and call them if they need to because there will almost certainly be someone there to help."