Pénurie de places d'étudiants en Angleterre

Cette année, en Angleterre, tous les diplômés de l'enseignement secondaire ayant droit à une place en fac n'en auront pas forcément une - la faute à l'inaction d'un gouvernement quinéglige son système universitaire, expliquent les syndicats.

50.000 A-Level Students to miss out on a place at university

Polly Curtis, The Guardian.

The government stands accused today of abandoning its commitment to get more school-leavers into university, triggering an unprecedented scramble for degree places when students discover their A-level results this morning.

University applicants face the most intense competition ever after ministers capped student numbers in England to cut costs despite a 10% increase in applications, fuelled in part by the recession. It leaves a potential shortfall of 60,000 places.

Universities are warning that more courses than ever will be full by the end of today and the head of the university admissions system said the clearing system for allocating leftover places will be over within the week. Usually it takes up to a month.

The number of A-levels awarded at grade A is also expected to go up for the 27th year running to about 26%, intensifying the competition in the system.

Sally Hunt, the head of the lecturers' union UCU, accused Labour of abandoning its policy to expand universities. "The government's widening participation agenda was one that should have been celebrated and allowed to flourish. Sadly, the government's failure to stand up for education and to properly fund the policy has led to its apparent demise," she said.

"The decision to cap the numbers of student places at university this year, and most likely permanently cap the ambition of thousands of potential students, marks the nadir of a policy which has become, in essence, the rationing of hope."

The places were restricted last year after a £200m hole was discovered in the Whitehall funding for universities.

Last month the government announced an emergency 10,000 extra places, principally in science and maths courses, but the majority of the elite Russell Group of universities refused the offer after it emerged that ministers could only partially fund the courses. A big majority will be offered by the ex-polytechnics including Manchester Metropolitan, Kingston and Sheffield Hallam university.

Some institutions have designed schemes to get round the cap to admit extra students. Coventry has introduced a new "flex degree" that is officially counted a part-time course. Only full-time courses have been capped. But students can opt to take the courses practically full-time.

Les Ebdon, vice-chancellor of Bedfordshire University and chair of the Million+ group of ex-polytechnics, said: "It's a disappointment that having worked hard to raise aspirations and improve A-level results further, the places are not there. There's a real need for long-term strategic planning. The cap was a panic response. Introducing a threat to fine universities is not very good management style."

He said more students would be encouraged to go part-time and that there would be pressure on ministers to lift the cap on numbers allocated for January to allow students who miss out for September a second chance. Universities would recruit international students to increase income if they weren't allowed to take domestic students, he said. "I expect there will be 'house full' signs on quite a lot of our courses even on Thursday and Friday."

Anthony McClaran, chief executive of the university admissions system Ucas, said: "We'll see intense activity in the week after A-level results. When I was an admissions officer years ago it would continue up until the start of term but it will happen in the week following results this year. It's definitely more concentrated."

There are also warnings that the students who are excluded are likely to be from the poorest homes as universities are forced to abandon schemes to identify bright candidates from state schools.

David Barrett, assistant director of the Office for Fair Access, said: "We have told institutions that we are concerned that the demand doesn't lead to a disproportionate effect for widening participation students. The risk is that institutions may look at grades in a more simplistic way because of the demand for places."

Elite universities warned that the "clearing crunch" would become an annual event unless the government reformed the student funding system. Writing in the Guardian, Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group institutions, said: "Unless we grasp the nettle and answer tough questions about who is going to make a bigger contribution to the costs of maintaining world-class universities, then this week's scenes will be repeated in future. Many students capable of benefiting from higher education will miss out on the chance of a degree."

David Willetts, shadow universities secretary, said: "Tens of thousands who expected to go to university this year will be disappointed, and ministers are to blame. This is a recipe for disaster."

David Lammy, the higher education minister, said last night: "Under Labour more people than ever before are going to university and a record number are expected to go this summer.  We expect 50,000 more accepted applicants this year than just three years ago.  Much of this growth is thanks to the increased investment we have made in our universities.  Investment in our universities has risen by 25% in real terms since 1997 and stands at a record £15bn this year including student support."