Scottish results day: Record number of pupils secure university places

Some 27,400 Scottish pupils have been admitted onto courses at Scottish universities and colleges this year

Just over 140,000 students in Scotland received their results today – down from 143,000 in 2015 (Photofusion/REX/Shutterstock)

More pupils from Scotland have been accepted onto their university courses this year than ever before, it has been confirmed, following the release of Scottish Baccalaureate and Highers exam results.

Of more than 140,000 students receiving their results today, just fewer than 28,300 university candidates have successfully secured their courses, said UCAS officials, an increase of 4.8 per cent on last year.

This came despite a fall in the A-C pass rate for Higher exams, down two per cent from last year.

The Scottish government said this year’s candidates had produced “another highly successful set of results”, including 152,701 Higher passes, the second highest number on record and 77 per cent of those sat.

For the National 5 tests, 234,160 exams sat achieved passes — 79 per cent of all those sitting the exams.

And of National 4 candidates, 79 of those sitting exams achieved passes — 234,160 in total.

More than 43,000 National Certificates, Awards and National Progression Awards have been awarded in courses such as early education, childcare and computer games development, up 27 per cent on last year’s results.

There has also been a 23 per cent increase in National Certificate passes at SCQF level 6 related to work skills, the SQA board confirmed.

While many will have received their results by traditional post, some 50,000 teenagers are said to have received them by text or email this year.

It is the first year that all school and colleges in Scotland have offered the new Higher curriculum to candidates, following the phased introduction of the new Advanced Higher last year.

By the day the results were published, Scottish universities had admitted 34,620 students, a rise of 6 per cent year-on-year, with the proportion of Scottish students being admitted to these institutions rising by 4.6 per cent.

Some 3,900 EU pupils also secured places at Scottish universities — a significant increase of 18.8 per cent year-on-year.

Vonnie Sandlan, President for NUS Scotland said: "It’s fantastic to see yet another year of record exam passes and, coming with that, the highest level of entry to university in Scotland ever recorded. That’s a great and deserved testament to the hard work of all our pupils and teachers who should be incredibly proud of everything they’ve achieved."

"We shouldn’t just be pleased by these results, but hugely encouraged by the good news it is for our students, universities, and Scotland as a whole."

Education Secretary John Swinney said students could be “extremely proud of their efforts”.

Last year, a record number of Highers were awarded to pupils sitting the newly introduced exams as part of the educational reforms.

Some controversy arose, however, after the pass rate for a maths exam deemed too difficult was lowered to 34 per cent to compensate.

SQA officials said this year’s National 5 Mathematics question paper performed “as intended” with candidates achieving an A-C grade attainment rate of 63.2 per cent. National 5 Lifeskills Mathematics had an attainment rate of 35.8 per cent.

Dr Janet Brown, SQA’s chief executive and Scotland’s chief examining officer said of this year’s results: “The new qualifications are performing well and the results clearly are enabling young people to transition between the levels and develop a wider range of skills.