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UCAS CLEARING is the process by which potential undergraduate students who have not managed to secure a place at university or college can find suitable vacancies on higher education courses.
In a nutshell, university clearing matches those who have not obtained the grades they require for their conditional offer and those universities and colleges who still have places available.
More than 30,000 students find a place on an undergraduate higher education course using the UCAS Clearing service each year.
On the whole, if you have 'reasonable' exam results and are prepared to be flexible you should be able to find a place on a course.
University clearing is open to all applicants who have applied via UCAS in the current application year providing they have not withdrawn their application.
In addition, applicants must EITHER hold no offers OR have no confirmed offers. This could be because:
- You have not met the conditions of your offer (eg. you have not got the required grades);
- You have declined your offers or not responded by the due date;
- Your offers have not been confirmed and you have declined any alternative offers from the same institution;
- You applied after 30 June (12 June for Route B art and design courses) meaning your application won't have been sent to institutions.
Clearing begins in mid-August when the A-level results are announced.
As Scottish Higher results are generally published a week before the A-level results, and thus before the UCAS Clearing service opens, vacancies for Scottish institutions can be found at scottishclearing.org.
You can also find details of vacancies on the UCAS site or in the national press. Each year The Independent, The Independent on Sunday and The Mirror publish information provided by UCAS as a list of institution names and courses sorted alphabetically by subject keyword; these do not equate to course titles. (Codes for degree and DipHE courses start with a letter, those for HND courses start with a number).
For details of courses it is essential that readers refer to the UCAS Big Guide or Course search for that year, in which course codes are printed against the course titles, and to institutions' prospectuses.
Clearing runs until mid-September. After this date, you must contact the universities and colleges direct to see what places are available.
You can find more information about the clearing vacancies via the UCAS website from mid-August to late-September. For further information on Clearing, see our Clearing survival kit feature.
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