A-level results 2012

Commenting on this year’s A-levels results and UCAS acceptance figures, Dr Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group, said:

“We congratulate all A-level students on their hard work and well-deserved grades and we wish them all the best in their future studies and careers.

“Getting your A-levels results is a nerve-wracking time and it is inevitable that this year, like every year, some students will miss their offer or do better than expected. The important thing is not to panic - all our universities have people on hand to help and UCAS can be contacted on 0808 100 8000.

“It is encouraging to see another overall increase in the number of students taking A-level maths and sciences. We are pleased that efforts by our universities and others to persuade students to consider carefully the real benefits of taking science and maths appear to be paying off. These subjects open up a whole world of options for students both at university and in their careers.

“We are also pleased to see an increase of 18.6% in pupils taking the Extended Project, which helps stretch the most capable students and fosters critical thinking and independent learning skills.

“However, the continued overall decline in modern foreign languages is disappointing and means students are at risk of failing to meet the needs of our universities, economy and society.

“We remain concerned that subject choices are affected by students’ backgrounds and the kind of school they attend. Our universities have made real progress in recruiting more students from state schools but they still face challenges as they try to recruit students with the right qualifications and the right grades for our courses.

“That is why the Russell Group published Informed Choices, our guide to post-16 study options, which aims to improve information about how subject choices at school can impact on university applications.

“More than 350,000 students have got places at university so far this year and we know there are more places in clearing at a range of universities. But it is really competitive to get a place at a leading university. On average there are seven applications for every place at Russell Group universities and certain courses, such as medicine, attract especially large numbers of students with very high grades.

“This is the first year that student number controls have been lifted for those students getting AAB or above and even now it is too early to tell how the new approach will affect the final numbers of students entering any individual university or any particular course. 

“Our leading universities will not decide en masse to expand at the first opportunity, but some with the capacity and demand are now choosing to recruit more students, in some cases on particular courses.  However, universities need to balance expansion with ensuring they can still provide the first rate student experience that being at a research-intensive university offers. Providing a world-class education for our students is an absolute priority for Russell Group universities.

“Our universities have been preparing for this carefully and are on hand to help students who have missed their offer. We will be monitoring this carefully over the coming days and weeks.”

Notes to editors

1. Today figures from JCQ show Maths entries are up 3.3%, Further Maths up 7.6%, Biology up 1.7%, Chemistry up 2.4% and Physics up 5%.
2. Entries in French are down 5.2%, German down 7.6% and Spanish down 3.4%. Other  Modern Foreign Languages are up 2% but on relatively low numbers of less than 10,000 entries overall.