There are signs that the rampant expansion of top universities may be reaching its limit despite another year of bumper domestic intakes.
For the third A-level results day in a row, higher-tariff universities have expanded, adding more than 5 per cent to their enrolments at the expense of universities with lower entry grades and smaller, specialist providers.
But a sharp rise in students being accepted to their insurance choices showed the elite group may have “tipped into being a little bit more selective” virtually “at the last minute”, according to Mark Corver, a former director of analysis and research for admissions service Ucas.
The proportion of applicants receiving their first-choice offer was down at 79 per cent, compared with 82 per cent last year, while 13 per cent were placed at their insurance choice compared with 11 per cent in 2025.
“It’s an unexpectedly harsh year for young UK applicants,” Corver told Times Higher Education (THE). “There’s a staggering increase in those being placed in insurance choices at this stage.”
