A bumper year for Scottish applicants
David Kernohan is Deputy Editor of Wonkhe
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If you hold Scottish Higher (or Advanced Higher) qualifications and go on to higher education, the chances are it will be in Scotland – in 2024-25 93 per cent of all enrolled students with a permanent address in Scotland were studying in Scotland.
Numbers of students at Scottish universities are controlled – uniquely, outside of specialised subject areas, in the UK – which makes for a very tight clearing offer to Scottish students from Scottish universities. There was some consternation when Heriot-Watt closed Clearing to Scottish students earlier this year, and places are scarce elsewhere: on results day, Glasgow had spaces on just three first degree courses for Scottish students, while there was just one option if you were considering Strathclyde.
Meanwhile, in England, there are spaces on all kinds of courses at all kinds of providers – where the numbers of undergraduate students are unrestricted, be they from England, Scotland or elsewhere. And the UCAS tariff is favourable for those holding Qualifications Scotland (what we used to call SQA) awards, although the fact that you need to repay fee loans has the obvious impact on the attractiveness of cross border study.
Largely for the latter reason, the first clearing release of this cycle tells us that the majority (just under 4 in 5) of 18 year olds in the UCAS system who just got SQA qualifications have been placed, primarily at their first choice. Just 1,740 are currently holding an offer they have not confirmed, and just 2,630 are “free to be placed in Clearing”: meaning they have not met the conditions of either their firm or insurance place, or never held an offer in the first place.
Though this is very slightly up on last year (both in proportional terms and in number, the latter very much expected from the largest cohort of 18 year olds on record), while firm acceptances are very slightly down.
An astonishing 98 per cent of 18 year olds educated in Scotland who have accepted a higher education place via UCAS have done so at a Scottish provider – just 270 have headed south via a firm or insurance offer in England, and none to providers in Wales or Northern Ireland.
Recruitment from SIMD quintile 1 areas (the most deprived areas in Scotland) has always been a big deal among Scottish institutions. As of 2026 and results day 12 per cent of accepted applicants came from quintile 1, compared to 33 per cent from quintile 5. The participation rate for quintile 1 18 year olds has risen slightly, from 16 per cent last year to 16.2 per cent this year.
The other stories are ones we can’t see. Many young people in Scotland enter higher education via an articulation agreement with their local college, and this kind of place seldom shows up in UCAS data. And while we are expecting another bumper year for high tariff providers, the controlled nature of recruitment growth in Scotland and the tiny numbers of students learning elsewhere means that we won’t get a good look at that until JCQ results day (the rest of the UK) next week.
Grades and achievement rates tend not to vary dramatically year to year at an overall level, exam boards (including Qualifications Scotland) tend to aim at a stable spread of marks year on year. But subject performance does vary, so here’s some charts for those in admissions teams who will be very interested in that.
