Applying for a Higher Education Course

UK students can apply for full-time courses around the country through the Universities Central Admissions Service (UCAS), which processes applications and informs each applicant of the response of each institution. Students who do not get offered a place are given a second chance through the 'Extra' service, which operates from mid-March until July. For those students who don't receive an offer through Extra or who fail to make their required grades, there is a final opportunity to apply for places through the Clearing system, which runs from Mid-August to mid-September.

However, UCAS does not handle admissions for all higher education courses. For part-time, flexible learning and postgraduate courses, students normally need to apply directly to the institution running the course.

In this section, we've put together a step-by-step guide to applying for full-time and part-time courses, including additional information on Extra and the Clearing service.