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Prospective nursing students race for final degree places on A-level results day

Nursing is the fifth most popular subject searched for on the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) clearing website.
Exam results

University clearing hotlines have been inundated with calls from prospective nursing students as thousands of students receive their A-level results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Students without confirmed university places have been searching for nursing degrees through clearing – the process that matches students with unfilled places.

Nursing was the fifth most searched subject on the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) website before lunchtime, the same position it was in at this time last year. 

Only economics, law, psychology and business attracted more interest.

Race for last places

More than 40 UK universities are listing pre-registration nursing course places available through clearing on the UCAS website.

Students are aiming to take up any remaining unfilled places of the 25,882 commissioned for the 2016/17 academic year in the UK. 

Earlier today (Thursday, 18 August) De Montfort University in Leicester had about 30 places for its learning disability and mental health nursing programmes available through clearing, and places on its adult nursing course depending on A level results.

Constant stream of callers

Head of nursing and midwifery Christine Whitney-Cooper said the phones had been busy since lines opened this morning.

She said: ‘We have had so much interest. We have got 15 lines and at the moment only one or two are not being used at any one time. It is probably more buoyant than last year.’

University of the West of England academic director for adult nursing Tracey Proctor-Childs said it had about 45 adult nursing places left.

She said: ‘The lines opened at 8am and straight away, people were ringing in. 

‘People are ringing in fairly constantly.’

New beginnings

Kingston University in London said it had seen an increase in calls from prospective nursing students from outside the capital.

Kris Paget, its recruitment lead for nursing and a senior lecturer in nursing, said this could be because students are being more proactive this year and making calls about clearing earlier.

She added: ‘Some callers have been a bit anxious about moving away from home.’

A team of current nursing students have been helping out on the Kingston University hotline, speaking to clearing candidates about the university’s nursing degrees and fielding any concerns about moving away from home. 

Students in Scotland received their results last week.

 

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