UNIVERSITIES in Essex are bracing themselves for the end-of-summer scramble for student places as anxious A-level pupils await their results day.Staff at Essex University and Anglia Polytechnic University will be deluged by students desperate to know if their grades are good enough to earn a remaining degree course place.

UNIVERSITIES in Essex are bracing themselves for the end-of-summer scramble for student places as anxious A-level pupils await their results day.

Staff at Essex University and Anglia Polytechnic University will be deluged by students desperate to know if their grades are good enough to earn a remaining degree course place.

Their wait comes just days after a Government adviser urged a radical shake-up in the system known as "clearing".

Extra staff, including current students, will be on hand at the Essex universities on Thursday to answer calls from people who do not receive the required A-level grades.

Students are also eligible to enter the system if they have applied to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) but hold no offers, or if they declined their offers, or if they applied after June 30 this year.

The University of Essex said it had been a "very good" year for admissions and expected fewer departments than usual to enter the clearing system this time around with modern languages, politics and maths almost full.

Mike Nicholson, head of undergraduate admissions and student recruitment, said: "The top universities are receiving a greater number of applications and are relying on clearing less and less.

"These universities will soon be out of vacancies, so students must be well organised on Thursday."

Anglia Polytechnic University recruited 19% of its students through clearing last year, but advised people to avoid being "panicked" into choosing a new course through the system.

Meanwhile, Education Secretary Charles Clarke Education Secretary Charles Clarke has ordered officials to examine proposals to delay university applications until after students get their A-Level results.

Government education adviser Professor Steven Schwartz believes his plans will help less confident pupils whose schools do not encourage them to aim high.

His proposals come after confidence in the system was badly hit by the crisis that engulfed the exam last year.