A new report from the Higher Education Policy Institute reveals that more than a third of students starting University in England last year did not have recognised entry qualifications.

Of these ‘unqualified’ students many will be from abroad, have qualifications that are not recognized by UCAS or will have taken access courses designed to give those without qualifications a chance to go to university. These surprising results indicate that two fifths of this group will indeed have achieved fewer than two E grades at A-level.

The author of the report, Higher Education Policy Institute director Bahram Bekhradnia said "It is one of its strengths that the UK's higher education system - and a feature that sets it apart from most others in Europe - that such second chance higher education is possible."

Yet this same report also shows that a higher number of more qualified students failed to gain a University place last year, estimating that around 62,000 University applicants were qualified enough to gain a university place but didn’t manage to.

The report calls this unsatisfied qualified demand for University places 'significant' following what it calls 'a significant policy change' in 2008 when the number of University places began to be limited and the 'squeeze on student numbers began'. UCAS has said that in the period between 2008-2010, the largest growth in applications was among this least qualified group, those with fewer than 80 UCAS points and many with none at all.

The report said “What is curious is that whereas in the past higher education numbers went hand-in-hand with A-level numbers, in recent years the rate of increase in higher education entry has been about twice the number of A-level passes”.

It is expected that the recent increase in tuition fees will have contributed to the rise in applications this year and that we may see a reduction in applications as the fee increase takes effect.