This week sees many young people from the Brentwood and Ongar constituency heading off to university for the first time. A record number of youngsters will take up a place at university this year following the return to exams, and move on to the next stage of their lives as we return to normality after the pandemic.
- The students who received their result last month are the first group in three years to sit exams, and faced significant disruption to their studies during the pandemic.
- This year 180,000 18-year-old students in England have had their place at their first choice university confirmed – the largest number recorded for an examination year and a 20 per cent increase on 2019 when exams were last sat.
I congratulate all the students who received results this year – including pioneering T Level students as the first ever group to take this qualification – and say a huge thank you to all those teachers, parents, carers and supporters who helped them get to this point.