Dental students in England offered cash to switch university

Students who have won a place on an oversubscribed dentistry degree in England are being offered £10,000 (US$13,600) to transfer to a different university with places available. But universities warn cash incentives won’t relieve the pressure on many dental courses, writes Anna Fazackerley for The Guardian.

Like medicine, dental schools have been hit by the double whammy of a huge increase in demand for places, and far more students than expected achieving the high A-level grades needed to secure their offer. This year 28,690 students applied to study medicine and dentistry, a rise of 21% on last year, according to figures from university admissions service UCAS.

The vice-chancellor of one elite university, who asked not to be named, told the Observer: “We are oversubscribed in dentistry. It is a problem that is going to be difficult to resolve across the country, because there just aren’t lots of spare clinical training places available for students. There is real pressure because so many dental surgeries are going bust.”
Full report on The Guardian site