The delivery of Scottish Highers results on Friday heralds the start of the uncomfortable process of clearing for a significant proportion of prospective university entrants.

The system handles candidates whose initial applications have been unsuccessful but who are still good enough to get into a university or college somewhere in the UK.

Clearing is carried out by the Universities and Colleges Admissions service (Ucas), the central applications service for almost all full-time undergraduate courses in the UK.

Ucas provides advice for candidates

For only the second time, it is running a clearing service specifically tailored to Scottish Highers candidates wanting to go to Scottish institutions.

Until now, prospective students in Scotland have had to wait until the release of A Level results - on August 19 this year - before searching through the much bigger UK listings for details of possible courses. They will still have to wait if they want to go to a university outside Scotland.

Ucas is advising applicants to refer to the prospectuses of all the universities and colleges in which they are interested before completing the application form.

If a course is referred to in a prospectus, but not in the Ucas Handbook guide, applicants should consult the institution concerned for advice before applying.

Ucas also suggests applicants and advisers consult University and College Entrance: the official guide 1999 - The Big Book, before completing their application form.

Entrance requirements

It provides a comprehensive listing of all courses available in Ucas institutions, together with a guide to entrance requirements.

A copy of Studylink UK, the CD ROM multimedia guide to entering Higher Education, is provided with each copy.

Vacancies available through clearing will be listed on the Ucas Website - but not until August 19, when A level results come out. A spokeswoman said it would be unfair to non-Scottish candidates to publish the details before then.

They will also be on BBC Two Ceefax, pages 700 to 799, and in some newspapers.

The vacancies for Scottish institutions are available on August 6 and August 8 only in Scottish editions of The Independent and The Independent on Sunday.

This is part of Ucas's three-year contract with The Independent and The Mirror - who put in a joint bid - to carry the clearing vacancies in full.