Universities have already closed their doors to desperate students as the number of vacant places were filled within hours.

Aston University, the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston and the University of Warwick have all run out of available places following a massive demand through the clearing system, which matches students to vacancies.

Nationally, more than half of vacant university places have already been snapped up as students rush to secure their spot for this autumn.

Figures released yesterday by university admissions service Ucas show that 12,318 students had found a place through clearing, which is an increase of more than 7,500 on the number of students who had secured a course through the system at this point last year.

The unprecedented scramble for places will mean that thousands of students will miss out on a university place this year, almost certainly adding to already growing unemployment queues.

It is estimated that just 22,000 places are available through clearing this year following a Government cap on additional student numbers and a surge in applications to higher education as a result of the economic downturn.

Yesterday’s Ucas figures reveal that 141,130 applicants who failed to get into their choice of university are still eligible for clearing.

At least 14 applicants are now fighting for every single university place, less than a week after teenagers around the UK learnt their A-level results.

Aston University had previously secured an additional 100 places allocated by the Government in response to fears that more than 50,000 applicants could miss out.

But the university said yesterday that all of the places, which were in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths, had already been taken up and it no longer had any vacancies. 

An Aston spokesman said: “The process was definitely busier and quicker than last year, with around 2,000 enquiries on the first day, and with all places taken up by Monday.

“We’ve had some really strong student candidates through clearing, with many people gaining better grades than expected and opting to approach Aston to study.”

The spokesman said they had maintained their normal entry requirements with students being accepted with either three B grades or two Bs and a C.

The University of Warwick said it only had a handful of available places in chemistry which were quickly filled on Thursday, allowing them to close clearing on Friday morning.

“Between 8am and 5pm on Thursday, we took 1,689 calls, with many more people who would have been unable to get through,” a spokesman said.

The University of Birmingham also finished clearing last Thursday when it quickly filled the 50 places it had available. Birmingham City University, which had 700 places available, including 200 from the Government’s allocation, says only a few remain, in architecture, housing and its technology innovation faculty.