It will be like the baby boom all over again

Sean Coughlan at the BBC explains now what:

The next part of the A-level U-turn jigsaw is that the government is allowing universities in England to add more places – to meet the extra demand from young people who have had their results upgraded.

To increase capacity, the government in England will lift the “student number controls” which would have capped places.

Which means universities can add more students but

But that still depends on it being possible – they will still need to have enough spare space, teaching staff and accommodation, along with the pressures of Covid-19 social distancing measures.

Which doesn’t just magically pop into being because it’s needed.

A later update (the BBC doesn’t provide links to each segment of live reporting, unlike the Guardian):

Queen Mary University of London said in a tweet it was “deeply sympathetic” to affected students, and that it would guarantee a place to any students who had originally missed but now met the terms of their offer.

An hour down the page there is a student who was sad about her lost place at Queen Mary:

“I’m relieved but quite frustrated at the same time. It’s too late,” says Zainab Ali, 18, from London.

She’s come to terms with the fact that she’s going to her second choice, the University of Westminster, instead – but still feels frustrated because she had “always wanted” to go to Queen Mary’s since being a child.

So it looks as if she’ll get to go after all (perhaps with overcrowding).

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