The number of 18 year olds not holding just A Levels and accepted on to Higher Education courses increased in 2018, according to UCAS’ end of cycle report.

The report which provides an in-depth analysis about who’s applying and getting in to HE, changing patterns of recruitment, and the impacts of qualification and market reforms, shows that applicants with Cambridge Technicals, Cambridge pre-University, Extended Project and alternative vocational qualifications are being accepted into Higher Education.

UCAS believes this could indicate:

• A diversification of the qualifications that HE providers will accept
• A growing acceptance of vocational qualifications as a measure of academic ability
• A Higher Education market with increasingly high levels of competition between providers
• The results of Widening participation activities.

A Levels (alone) remain the most common qualification type held by applicants at nearly 60%, with 88% of those being accepted into HE.

Acceptance rates among applicants achieving a lower A Level grade have continued to grow.  There were more placed applicants missing their predicted grades by three or more grades in 2018 than in previous years.

The second most common qualification type from applicants is BTECs although the proportion applying only with this qualification fell to 10.1% – a 1% decrease from 2017.