Universities receive more than 2.5 million applications each year

Currently most applicants to UK universities are given offers based on expected grades, which are confirmed when results come out in late summer.

A report for the Secondary Heads Association, published on Monday, also proposes speeding up A-level marking to allow later applications.

The government is already committed to changing the system.

'Unsound'

The current system is "educationally unsound, inequitable and inefficient", the report says.

The deadline for handing in application forms - provided by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service - is 15 January in the final year of sixth form for most places.

PQA MODEL PROPOSES TWO PHASES: REGISTRATION from 30 April involves two or more "indicative choices" allows for applicant interviews, auditions and tests APPLICATION after results on 15 July students confirm two choices more time for interviews and tests electronic applicant and course matching produce chains of decisions by students and universities universities start autumn term later time between results and start of university year increased from five to 11 weeks

Conditional offers come in until A-levels start in June.

Instead of this, the report proposes a registration phase from the end of April.

It says A-levels could start earlier and marking should be speeded up, so the results are out by mid-July, rather than mid-August.

After results students could make two university choices - rather than up to six currently - giving tutors more time to look at each candidate before the start of the academic year.

This would begin slightly later, creating a gap of 11 weeks between A-level results and starting university - up from five weeks.

Post-qualification applications (PQA) could be in place by 2008, says the report, which has been submitted to the Department for Education and Skills.

It calls the current system "inequitable" as it "tends to disadvantage those from lower income backgrounds".

Last year, 476,000 students made just over 2 million university applications - or more than four each on average.

The figures include those from post-A-level "clearing", which would be likely to disappear under PQA.

Shortcomings

The SHA commission on the subject was chaired by John Tredwell, principal of Worcester Sixth Form College.

He said students often made decisions about which university to go to without adequate guidance.

"With more time, they will have a better understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses."

But also, the process was unfair - with some applicants "discriminated against" and others discouraged from applying to the top universities or even from making an application at all.

The present system was "wasteful and inefficient". Admissions staff had to deal with about 2.5 million applications though only around 350,000 students accepted places.

'Greater fairness'

The SHA general secretary, John Dunford, said there was "a strong consensus" in favour of PQA but until now no-one had produced a workable system.

The Higher Education Minister, Kim Howells, said students without a family history of going to university would have greater confidence in applying to leading institutions if they had their results beforehand.

Sir Martin Harris, director of the newly established Office for Fair Access for universities, recommended starting partial PQA for the most in-demand courses.

Some 5 to 10% of places could be offered on this basis until full PQA started.

This, he said, would benefit students from poorer backgrounds who did better than expected at A-level.

Sir Martin said: "If this happens at present on a very high-demand course, there are no places available.

"Some students are happy to wait for a year to reapply, but others might have family circumstances that make waiting a year difficult."

In a report published in September, a government taskforce recommended that PQA would make admissions fairer and more transparent.

The Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, agreed and said it was time to make this achievable.

He has set up a working group under Sir Alan Wilson, first director general for higher education in his department.