A-level results came out this week<\/a> and, as anticipated, there was a steep fall in the number of students achieving the highest grades, although numbers were still higher than pre-pandemic, in 2019. There was also a drop in the number of applicants accepted<\/a> at higher tariff universities than last year, which has been ascribed to a reduction of nearly 12,000 available places in those institutions. However, in comparison with 2019, a higher number of students have secured their first choice university place<\/a> this year (though in percentage terms, because the number of applicants is up, the overall percentage is down, from 55.7% in 2019 to 54.4% now).<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Australia, the government has been praised for its method of distributing the country\u2019s 20,000 extra undergraduate places to disadvantaged students<\/a>.<\/p>\n The latest monthly monitoring report<\/a> for the USS pension scheme estimates that it is in surplus of \u00a31.8 billion \u2013 this would represent a major shift from the \u00a314.1 billion deficit cited in the 2020 valuation, though USS is quick to point out that the estimate does not represent a full actuarial valuation. It remains to be seen<\/a> what impact this will have on member contributions, benefits and associated industrial action.<\/p>\n In light of the cost of living crisis, UCU has called on universities to stop charging non-refundable deposits<\/a> to prospective postgraduate students. The Tab has an article<\/a> looking into this practice. Meanwhile, Wonkhe has an angry analysis<\/a> of the data in the NatWest Student Living Index.<\/p>\nPensions<\/h3>\n
Student finance<\/h3>\n
High impact journals<\/h3>\n