Record numbers of 18-year-olds across England, Wales and Northern Ireland have secured places at universities and colleges after receiving their A-levels on results day.
Initial Ucas figures show the total number of students accepted on to UK degree courses has risen by 3.1 per cent on the same point last year, with 439,180 taking up places so far.
It comes as hundreds of thousands of students today pick up their long-awaited A-level results to help them decide whether to progress to university, an apprenticeship or work.
This cohort of school and college leavers received their GCSE results in 2023 – the first year that grading was returned to pre-pandemic levels in England.
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