Weeks after the start of the university clearing process, many institutions have not yet met their quotas for undergraduate law students.
Clearing runs over the course of the summer and allows students to secure a place at universities that still have places available, with many of the most popular courses filling up in a matter of hours.
Russell Group member Cardiff University is the highest-profile name still advertising spaces as of 30 August, while other institutions that have traditionally been highly-regarded for law that have places available include Leicester, Keele and the University of East Anglia.
A multitude of other universities are also still in clearing, including Brunel, UWE Bristol, Essex, Greenwich, Hertfordshire, Huddersfield, Kent, Middlesex, Nottingham Trent, Oxford Brookes, Reading, Sussex and Westminster.
According to the University and College Union, 66 UK universities are in financial distress – one third of the entire sector.
With the high cost of tuition fees and the rise of earn-while-you-learn legal apprenticeships, it may be that an undergraduate law degree is less appealing for students as a route to qualification as a lawyer.
Given this landscape, some sources have raised concerns over the health of the law departments that have yet to fill their places for the new academic year.
“You don’t go into clearing willy-nilly: it sucks up headcount and takes organisation.
“The longer you are on the list and your reputation takes a corresponding hit, you start losing standing internationally,” said one law head of admissions. “If you are still in clearing come September you are bleeding.”
“If a uni is still in clearing that long past decision day there is a serious of question of what’s gone wrong. Why are students not applying: are they going off to do apprenticeships instead, or is there a reason they don’t want to go to that uni?”
