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Rise in unconditional offers sparks call for new system of post-qualification university applications

Calls have been made to move to a post-qualification system of applications for higher education.

It comes after education secretary Damian Hinds has written to universities urging them to change their admissions practices in light of revelations about the rise in “conditional unconditional” offers.

UCAS figures last year reported that students are now 30 times more like to receive an unconditional offer than five years ago, with 10 universities last year giving more than half of their offers as unconditional.

It means that a third of 18-year-olds in England, Northern Ireland and Wales received an unconditional offer in 2018 (some 87,540 applicants), compared to 1.1 per cent in 2013 – some 87,540

So-called “conditional unconditional” offers occur when universities guarantee a place but only if the student puts them down as first choice.

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