Universities have taken an extra 10,000 undergraduates this year compared with 2001. But "final" statistics from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service are provisional because of the A-level debacle. The number of applicants accepted on to degree courses is up 2.8 per cent to 365,897 from 355,765 last year.
The number of people who took places at university in Scotland increased by 2 per cent - ,615 people were accepted this year, compared with ,105 at the same time last year.