In the next couple of weeks, hundreds of thousands of young people will be heading off to university. They’ll be bracing themselves for the wholesale regret that freshers’ week will undoubtedly precipitate, and possibly contemplating attending a lecture or two.

But among their number there will be some who got nothing like the requisite grades advertised on university websites, because clearing has radically changed the application landscape. Clearing shares certain features with the Grand National: tensions run high and chaos reigns as the starting gun sounds, and competitors jostle for position; a frenzied race ensues, and invariably there are a few casualties along the way. But increasingly, these casualties are few and far between, as clearing seems to mop up pretty much any leftover students, often with surprising placements.

For anyone unfamiliar with clearing, it’s the process whereby universities and other further education providers fill any places they have remaining before the courses begin. It opens officially in early July, but this is really only relevant for students who already have their results (such as those who took the International Baccalaureate), or who for whatever reason didn’t submit an application by the deadline at the end of January. The real clearing scramble kicks off at 8 a.m. on that fateful Thursday in mid-August when A-level students discover whether they’ve achieved the grades they need to meet their offers for classics at the University of Cambridge or football business at the University of Bedfordshire.

Until relatively recently, the academic opportunities afforded by clearing were distinctly limited, and students would really need to compromise often quite radically on their course or university, and often both. But the academic landscape has been changing. Universities are confronting increasing student numbers and serious financial challenges. The proportion of 18-year-olds going to university has essentially tripled in the past 50 years, and grown by........

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