The Vice Chancellor of Leeds Beckett University tells us about the changing role of Clearing in university applications, and why more students than ever are staying at home for their studies.
00:00Clearing is a really intensive period in August when people are applying or have already received their exam results and therefore have an opportunity to rethink, to maybe look at courses that have required higher results or maybe they haven't quite achieved what they thought they were going to and therefore they needed to rethink what their options are.
00:23Or they might have had a complete rethink about where they want to go to university or what they want to study or have only just decided they want to go to university and clearing is the opportunity to do.
00:32With more students entering university through clearing and reporting surprisingly positive experience of it, do you think the perception of clearing is changing and should universities rethink how they present clearing?
00:44UCAS did some research last year and about 40,000 students, so people that had got the results they needed and had been accepted into the university that they'd first chosen, actually released themselves from those offers in order to make different decisions.
01:03So this is no longer just, oh, if you haven't quite got what you needed to get, you know, then go into clearing and maybe somebody will pick you up.
01:10This is a much more proactive choice for students than it ever has been before.
01:14So all of those components, I think, are important when students are making that decision at clearing and that makes clearing a much more active, a much more exciting time, if you like.
01:28The research shows that nearly half of UK students are now living at home.
01:32What do you think is driving this shift and how has it changed the traditional student experience?
01:37The 18-year-olds that will be joining university this year, they were 12 and 13 when the pandemic hit.
01:43So they were probably homeschooled for a part of their senior school experience.
01:48So their ties to home may well be closer.
01:51And in fact, in the survey, I mean, a large percentage, nearly 50% are saying, you know, they want to stay close to home.
01:58They want to maintain those friendship bonds.
02:00And they then benefit from that as well.
02:03So they benefit from the additional practical support, as well as the emotional support of staying at home, which is also encouraging them to attend university, to go to the lectures, to go to the seminars and so on.
02:14Universities are having to adapt to this new group of students.
02:17So whatever the choice students have made, whether it's living halls or stay at home at any point in their university career, they're still getting the best possible support from the university to be successful.
