Pupils found out their A-level exam results on Thursday with a drop in the number of pupils receiving the highest grades.
There were fewer higher grades, setting off a scramble for university places with thousands possibly losing out on their first-choice university.
Government ministers in England wants to restore grades to pre-coronavirus levels, which means the target is fewer top grades.
When were exam results released?
A-level results in the UK were out on Thursday, August 17, while GCSE results will come a week later on August 24.
The results of T-levels, a qualification helping people into skilled employment, university or apprenticeships, will also be published on Thursday.
What happened with grades?
The proportion of A-level entries awarded top grades was down from last year but still remains above pre-pandemic levels.
In the UK, 27.2 per cent of entries were awarded an A or A* grade, down by 9.2 percentage points on last year when 36.4 per cent achieved the top grades.
That was still higher than in 2019 – the last year that summer exams were taken before the pandemic – when 25.4 per cent of entries were awarded A or A* grades.
The overall pass rate – the proportion of entries graded A* to E – has fallen to 97.3 per cent this year, which is lower than 2022’s 98.4 per cent and the pre-pandemic year of 2019 at 97.6 per cent.
The A*to E pass rate is at its lowest level since 2008, when it stood at 97.2 per cent.
In England, 3,820 students scored three A* grades, down from 8,570 last year, but up from 2,785 in 2019.
Boys have pulled ahead of girls at the top grade this year after female entries were in front for the last three years, with A* grades at 9.1 per cent for the former compared with 8.8 per cent for the latter.
Girls continued to outperform boys at A* and A but the gender gap has narrowed again this year.
Pupils accepted onto places
The number of pupils accepted on to UK degree courses fell this year, figures from the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (Ucas) show.
A total of 414,940 all applicants, which includes international pupils and those of non-school age, gained a place at university or college – down 2.6 per cent on the same point last year, Ucas said.
For 18-year-olds in the UK, 230,600 applicants have been accepted – down 3.1 per cent on last year.
Overall, 19,010 UK 18-year-old applicants have missed the conditions of their university offer and are now eligible to find places in clearing, compared with 15,090 last year and 17,270 in 2019.
Regional differences
Exam regulators in Wales and Northern Ireland do not expect to return to pre-pandemic grading standards until 2024.
In Scotland, which has a different exam system, the Scottish Qualifications Authority has taken what it calls a sensitive approach to grading this year.
Figures released last week showed the pass rate for exams in Scotland was down from last year, but still above 2019 levels
During the Covid-19 pandemic, marking was adapted for Covid-19 learning and lockdown testing, and the number of top grades went up.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb has said exam results in England need to return to pre-pandemic levels to ensure A-levels carry “weight and credibility” with employers and universities.
In England 26.5 per cent of pupils were awarded top grades, Wales was at 34.0 per cent and Northern Ireland 37.5 per cent.
For all A-level grades, England had 97.2 per cent, Wales 97.5 per cent and Northern Ireland 98.8 per cent.
Will pupils get into their university of choice?
Figures released on Thursday showed 79 per cent of pupils secured their first choice for university and 12 per cent were placed at their insurance choice.
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank, said: “For me, the biggest concerns are likely to be around people who get less good results than they expected and who may then miss their firm offer and possibly also their insurance offer.
“Remember, this is the cohort that got stellar GCSE grades so more than usual will be disappointed by their deflated A-level results and they will then find there's less choice than in recent years in clearing.”
For those students who do not get their first-choice university, the option is the Ucas clearing website.
Ucas chief executive Clare Marchant urged students to be “quick off the mark” on A-level results day as said she believed a lot of the highly selective courses would go quickly in clearing.
What can pupils do if they do not get the grades needed?
Pupils can use the clearing process to see what courses or universities might be available to them.
The admissions service has also produced a series of podcasts to help them prepare for exam results day.
As of Wednesday morning, the day before A-level results day, a PA sample of 130 of the UK’s largest higher education providers showed there were 22,521 courses with vacancies for undergraduate students living in England on the UCAS clearing website.
A similar analysis last year carried out the day before A-level results day, showed there were 22,685 courses with vacancies on the clearing site, which is slightly more than the number available this year.
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2012-2015
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May 2017
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Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
