Soaring varsity applications to affect 200,000 students

London: More than 200,000 would-be students are likely to be left without places at UK universities this year as undergraduate applications reach record levels for the fourth year running.

Applications are almost a fifth up on last year, according to the latest figures from the university admissions service, Ucas.

There was also bad news yesterday for those leaving university this year.

A business body warned that new graduates face a "double whammy" in the jobs market: a continuing fall in the number of vacancies available and no increase in average starting salaries for those who do manage to gain employment.