A quarter of A-levels will be graded at least an A next week as the number of students accepted into British universities exceeds 500,000 for the first time.
Just days before the publication of results, it emerged that record numbers of students were on track to win places on degree courses this summer.
The rise is being fuelled by an increase in applications combined with Coalition reforms to the higher education system that will give universities powers to admit extra students in 2014.
Universities have already made more offers this summer, with the number of students holding provisional places at the end of July up by more than 12,000 in a year.
Competition is particularly fierce for the recruitment of bright students – those with at least an A and two Bs at A-level – after universities were told they could admit unlimited numbers of candidates with good grades