Which Way 99: strike action in universities

STOP PRESS...

The Association of University Teachers (AUT) has threatened strike action on 9-10 August and 19-20 August. This action has been targeted at the admissions process to coincide with the receipt of the results of Highers in Scotland and the results of A/AS-levels in the rest of the UK.

UCAS is unaffected by this industrial action and will be working normally throughout the whole of the confirmation and Clearing period. It is difficult to predict the effect of this action on the days that it is scheduled to take place since it is impossible to be sure how much support there will be amongst AUT members.

You will, of course, be anxious about your application and I would wish to draw your attention to the following advice:

a) If you have met the conditions of your CF offer it will be confirmed. There is no need to contact your university or college or UCAS by telephone.

b) The majority of applicants will receive their confirming letters from UCAS on Tuesday 10 August for those taking Scottish Highers, and on Friday 20 August, for those taking A/AS-levels.

c) Universities and colleges always concentrate first on dealing with applicants who have met their conditions and also on those who have missed the conditions by a wide margin. Applicants who have narrowly missed the conditions of their offer inevitably take longer to consider. If you have just failed to meet the conditions of your offer and are therefore in this border-line category you should wait until 21 August before contacting the university or college or, indeed, UCAS as a decision is unlikely to have been made before that date.

d) Do not panic if you cannot get through to the university of your choice because of strike action. All other applicants will be in the same boat and nobody will be able to take advantage of your inability to talk to the admissions tutor of your choice.

e) An official notice of the state of play with regard to industrial action by the AUT, and how to ensure that you are not disadvantaged by this action, will be published in `The Independent' (Scottish edition) on 9 and 10 August and `The Independent' (all editions) on 18, 19 and 20 August).

Tony Higgins, Chief Executive, UCAS