David Willetts

Up to 140,000 potential students are still looking for places at university after a significant shortage of places, 30,000 more than at the same point last year.

UCAS figures show that 141,118 applicants for university clearing have not had any offers or met the conditions required, up from 109,103 in September 2008. Applications to university were up ten per cent this year as record numbers of young people sought to escape the effects of the recession, but an insufficient number of places available means the number of people missing out is up by thirty per cent.

Conservatives last week outlined plans to create 10,000 fully funded extra places, using student loans paid back early. Today, Shadow Universities and Skills Secretary David Willetts will use the first Opposition Day debate of the new parliamentary term to highlight the plight of thousands of young people unable to get into university, and thousands more who successfully won a place but have not received their grant and loan payments.

Shadow Universities and Skills Secretary, David Willetts said:

“This year saw a record number of university applicants but sadly it is also seeing record numbers of people missing out. The huge rise in demand was perfectly predictable, with population increases as well as the inevitable extra demand created by a recession. But the Government chose this year to cap the number of places, so tens of thousands of young people are missing out.

“At a time when the jobs market for young people is tougher than ever, it is far better to find them a place in education than to leave them languishing on the dole. Once they start down that road it is sometimes very difficult to get off it whereas going to university will increase their qualifications and make them more employable in the long run. That is why we have come up with a plan to create 10,000 fully funded extra university places and provide more educational opportunities elsewhere.

“It is young people that have already become the victims of this recession and despite Labour’s rhetoric, it is the Conservatives that are the party coming up with positive ideas about how to help them.”

Notes to Editors

1. According to the latest university application figures, the number of people who have applied to university and not been accepted for entry is significantly larger this year than last.

http://www.ucas.ac.uk/about_us/media_enquiries/media_releases/2009/app_stats09/appsta180909

2. Last week, the Conservatives launched a plan to provide 10,000 new fully-funded places at university in 2010/11, funded by incentivising the early repayment of student loans, as well as more further education colleges places, more training and apprenticeship places and a new work-pairing scheme - see

http://www.conservatives.com/~/media/Files/Policy%20Documents/GetBritainWorking.ashx?dl=true.

3. The text of the motion for debate this afternoon is:

“That this House congratulates those who have secured a higher education place for 2009/10 and wishes them well in their studies; regrets the increase in the number of applicants unable to secure a place this year; further regrets the financial difficulties faced by up to 175,000 students who started term without the loans and grants to which they are entitled; believes it is unacceptable that three-quarters of a million phone calls to the Student Loans Company went unanswered in three months and that an avoidable contact policy was adopted; notes with regret that warnings about the problems in Student Finance England appear to have been ignored; asks the Government to clarify the treatment of emergency loans made by higher education institutions; regrets the problems faced by international students as a result of the poor implementation of the new visa system; notes the need for additional, fully-funded higher education places in 2010/11; calls on the Government to consider new ways to improve access to university for 2010/11; further calls on the Government to provide more information on its planned sale of the student-loan book; and welcomes the idea of a cross-party student finance review to look at the long-term sustainability of the higher education sector, a fairer deal for part-time students and links with further education.”