Record number of university places, says Willetts

Hundreds of thousands of students are getting their A-level results but there is said to be an extra scrabble for places as anyone starting this autumn will pay lower fees for the whole of their period at university than students starting next year.

Many institutions have raised their entry requirements this year because of the record demand for places.

However the Universities Minister, David Willetts, said there was still a record number of extra places available at universities.