There has been a huge rise in the number of unconditional offers being made to students for university places, admissions service Ucas says.
The total made to 18-year-olds from England, Northern Ireland, and Wales has risen by 65,930 over the past five years - from 2,985 in 2013 to 67,915 in 2018. This means nearly a quarter (23%) of applicants received such an offer.
The government said the figures pointed to a "bums on seats" mentality. And unions said the situation risked encouraging teenagers not to strive for the best A-level results possible. By the end of June this year, Ucas figures show there were 254,700 18-year-olds from England, Northern Ireland and Wales applying to university.
Some of these students will have received offers from all five universities they applied to, while others may have had fewer.
Of all the offers received, 7.1% were unconditional, meaning a degree course place is secured regardless of the grades they achieve.
This is the first time that Ucas has analysed offer-making patterns during an application cycle, While the admissions service does not give any reason for the rise in unconditional offers, it says its analysis is part of its ongoing commitments to "ensure transparency throughout the admissions process”.
The data comes as the cap on the number of students a university can admit has been lifted and the population of 18-year-olds is falling. Students now pay as much as £9,250 a year in tuition fees.
Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said: "While there has been a steady growth in the number of unconditional offers made, they still account for a small proportion (7.1%) of all offers made by universities.
"Unconditional offers, when used appropriately, can help students and ensure that universities are able to respond flexibly to the range of applicants seeking places.
"Universities UK will continue to work with Ucas to monitor trends and any impact unconditional offer-making might have on student attainment. It is simply not in the interests of universities to take students without the potential to succeed.”
Universities Minister Sam Gyimah is not impressed by the figures.
"The rise in unconditional offers is completely irresponsible to students, and universities must start taking a lead, by limiting the number they offer," he said.
"Places at universities should only be offered to those who will benefit from them, and giving out unconditional offers just to put 'bums on seats' undermines the credibility of the university system.
"Along with the Office for Students, I am closely monitoring the number being issued and fully expect the regulator to take appropriate action.
"Unconditional offers risk distracting students from the final year of their schooling, and swaying their decisions does them a disservice - universities must act in the interest of students, not in filling spaces."
