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LONDON: Sixth-form students face a scramble for university places in the final year before tuition fees rise after another record set of A-level results.
The pass rate rose for the 29th successive year to hit 97.8 per cent, while around one in 12 exams achieved the top A* grade, officials said on Thursday.
The level of pupils securing an A grade held steady at 27 per cent, the same as last year, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) said.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the positive results were in stark contrast to the rioting that some young people took part in across England last week.
“The last 10 days has seen huge public debate about the appalling behaviour of a tiny minority of young people,” he said in a statement. “Today, however, we can all celebrate the success of the hundreds of thousands of students who have worked hard and are collecting their well-earned results.”
There was a 7.4 per cent rise in the numbers sitting a maths A-level and broadly similar increases across the sciences.
Modern languages including Spanish, French and German all saw declines.
“The increase in the number of students taking maths and the sciences suggest that young people are listening to the repeated calls from industry for more people to study the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects,” said JCQ Director Jim Sinclair.
The University and College Admissions Service (UCAS) estimates that nearly 400,000 students have already secured a university place, while 185,000 will have to find a course in the clearing system.
Shortly after the A-level results were released, the UCAS website was struggling to cope with the weight of inquiries.
From September 2012, universities will charge students up to 9,000 pounds a year in tuition fees.
Parliament voted to increase the tuition fee cap last December in a vote that triggered protests in London. The decision also eroded the popularity of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who had previously said he would oppose such a rise.
