Huge Demand for Places at Thames Valley

University holding open days for part-time courses

Thames Valley University (TVU) has experienced an unprecedented demand for its remaining full-time undergraduate course vacancies this year, and is now down to its last 200 places.

Students with their hearts set on going to university this autumn have been calling TVU’s dedicated Clearing Hotline (0800 036 8888) in their droves since A Levels results day last week.

Although places are filling up fast, the University currently still has availability on a range of degree courses, including broadcasting and digital animation. This will be welcome news to anyone wishing to ‘study local’ who hasn’t yet got themselves onto a course.

‘Clearing’ is the process, run by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), which helps applicants who haven’t already got one, find a university place. TVU has significantly fewer places available through Clearing this year than in previous years, and by the second day of Clearing, on Friday 21 August, the number of available places at TVU had almost halved and has continued to decrease rapidly since.

This year’s battle for Clearing places can be put down to a number of factors. It is thought that the recession may have led many more students to opt for university rather than seek a job in the current difficult market. Additionally, a number of government schemes, aimed at widening participation and encouraging students who wouldn’t normally consider university to apply, are now coming to fruition, increasing the numbers vying for places this year.

TVU’s Clearing Hotline has been open every day from 8am to 8pm since Clearing began. The volume of enquiries is already significantly higher than at the same point in the Clearing period last year. On the first day of Clearing alone, a total of 2, 716 students called the Hotline - more than the total number of Clearing enquiries received over the entire period last year - and call volumes have remained high since. There was also a 252 per cent increase in visitors to the TVU Clearing web pages on the first day of Clearing - more than three and a half times the number of visitors on the same Clearing day last year.

Lynn Grimes, Director of Marketing and Recruitment at TVU, said:

'With latest reports suggesting that there are significant numbers of applicants for each Clearing place, it's not surprising that we have been extra busy. As a result, we expect the Clearing period to be much shorter this year and are closely monitoring the numbers of remaining places. If you were hoping to go to uni this autumn, there are still places out there but you do need to be quick as courses are filling up. At TVU we still have some vacancies and are regularly updating course availability on our dedicated Twitter page – log on to www.twitter.com and search for ‘TVUclearingguru.’

Although TVU now has only limited availability on its full-time undergraduate degree courses, there are other options for those keen to continue their studies this autumn, including part-time courses. The University is running a number of drop-in sessions throughout September at its Ealing campus (St Mary’s Road) for people interested in finding out more about part-time courses.

• Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 September 2009, 4.30pm - 7.30pm
• Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 September 2009, 4.30pm - 7.30pm
• Saturday 12 September 2009, 11am - 2pm
• Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 September 2009, 4.30pm - 7.30pm

For the latest information on Clearing places at TVU, call the University’s Hotline on 0800 036 8888 or see www.tvu.ac.uk/clearing

August 31, 2009