CONGRATULATIONS to those of you coming to Birmingham this year and well done on your A-Level grades. Welcome packs will be dropping through your letterbox in the next couple of weeks but if you have any questions in the meantime don't hesitate to ask!
I find it pretty upsetting however to find out just how many applicants this year will miss out not because of their own actions, but because of a disastrous national situation. There are currently 142,000 people eligible for clearing, but only 19,000 places left. We have a Government committed to getting 50% of school leavers into higher education, yet Universities (whose budgets have already been cut) face hefty fines for admitting more than their quota of students.
Birmingham was only able to offer 50 spaces for clearing this year, all in obscure subjects. All those places have now gone. Across the country you'll find a similar story. (See Article) It's fair to say that many of us currently at uni wouldn't be here if we had left school this year.
The recession will end one day, but who knows how many lives will have been permanently scarred by its effects.
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