The ����Vlog Funding Council for England revealed today that it had received bids for a total of 35,811 places, almost twice the 20,000 that are on offer.

The bids have been made by a total of 202 institutions, of which 34 are higher education institutions and 167 are further education colleges. There was also one bid from a secondary school offering foundation degrees, Hefce said.

The figures have been published after the deadline for submitting bids – which are only open to institutions charging fees of £7,500 or less - passed on 11 November.

The institutions that recently proposed cutting their average fees to £7,500 or less in order to take advantage of the scheme were able to submit bids, suggesting that most of the applications from universities were from this group.

����Vlog

Each of the 202 bids will be assessed on quality and demonstrable demand for places - as well as meeting the price threshold - before Hefce makes allocations early next year.

The funding council’s spokeswoman said that if eligible bids exceeded the 20,000 numbers available, places would be allocated on a pro-rata basis among the institutions.

����Vlog

The margin of places is being made available by cutting the core allocation of places to all universities and colleges by around 9 per cent in 2012-13.

simon.baker@tsleducation.com