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Last week saw the unedifying annual ritual of Clearing play out. In a process as grim as its name applies, academics rush back to campus to counsel panic-stricken prospective students making on-the-spot decisions about which subject to study where.
Clearing has long been the refuge of desperate institutions and despairing applicants; the advent of tuition fees has ratcheted up the pressure on all concerned.
Once universities rejected those who failed to make the grade and perhaps suggested an easier alternative with places still available to grateful would-be students. Today the balance of power has shifted and universities go cap-in-hand to fee-paying students who barter their custom to secure the best offer. Some universities now operate a pre-clearing recruitment period which begins almost as soon as the official UCAS application deadline is reached in a bid to fill empty lecture theatres and generate revenue.
When A-level results are released, and Clearing properly starts, recently introduced adjustment processes allow students with better-than-expected grades to change their minds about course choice, shop around and trade up to something better. League-table topping universities compete to scoop up some of these sought-after applicants. Other institutions, determined to get bums on seats, compete to lower formal entry criteria.
Unsurprisingly, such market-driven changes have had an impact on students' attitudes to university application. Where previous generations dreaded the prospect of Clearing and saw it as a last-ditch insurance policy if all else failed, today's young hopefuls are more sanguine. For a few, clearing has become a positive choice. Those who have surpassed their predicted grades have a chance to review their options, while those unwilling to commit to a particular course before the end of sixth form can use Clearing to avoid having to engage with Ucas application forms.
However, as NUS president Toni Pearce discovered when she tested out the Clearing process on behalf of prospective applicants last year, this is not a route for the faint-hearted. Her tweeted conclusion? "Clearing is scary…No one should have to make a decision this important with no support in such a time pressured way."
The nature, purpose and duration of Clearing have all changed. Next year, when the formal cap on the number of students universities can recruit is lifted, things will no doubt change again. When the only restriction on student numbers will be physical space and institutional reputation then popular courses, as now, will most likely be filled long before mid-August. The not-so-prestigious will perhaps have less need to wait for Clearing before lowering entry tariffs, reducing fees, offering iPads and making promises about the quality of the student experience and future employment prospects.
If lifting government-imposed caps on the numbers of students universities can recruit sees the annual Clearing process quietly disappear from the higher education calendar, this can only be good for institutions and, most especially, students. Avoiding the late-summer panic and filling places earlier in the academic year might encourage students to think through exactly what it is they want to study at university and why.
Encouraging students to make rushed decisions implies course choice is less important than just going to university, having a student experience and ultimately getting a certificate that can be traded in for a job.
Immersing yourself in a particular subject for three years and having the determination to engage in real and sustained independent intellectual struggle requires greater motivation than a passing whim. Potential students should be encouraged to take applying to university seriously.
Unfortunately for cash-strapped universities it might be the case that, whisper it, some young people decide higher education is not for them: but better this than universities spending three years corralling students through courses they have little inclination to study.
Joanna Williams is a senior lecturer in higher education and academic practice at the University of Kent and author of Consuming higher education: why learning can't be bought – follow her on Twitter @jowilliams293.
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