The release of (in particular) Higher National and Advanced Higher National results by the Scottish Qualifications Agency (SQA) in early August signals the fast-approaching start of another academic year, and the end of the 2024 admissions cycle.

Higher National and Advanced Higher National qualifications are taken in Scottish schools at the same point A levels are taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland –  the “higher” (as it is colloquially known) is the standard entry qualification for higher education in Scotland, while the “advanced higher” is an optional qualification that bridges the gap between compulsory and higher education, and can be used for accelerated entry (for example, to the second year of the standard Scottish four-year undergraduate degree).

For 2024 the total number of entries (196,250) is the highest on record. Grade boundaries have returned (after a number of years grace due to pandemic disruptions) to approximately 2019 levels. SQA is at pains to tell you that grade boundaries are “achievement-referenced”, which could very broadly be described as “norm-referenced” with an overall consideration of the difficulty of a particular exam applied.

Here’s the results by subject (use the highlighter), level, and grade – for each year between 2019 and 2024. The size of the mark shows the total number of entries to that subject and level in that year.

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If that’s a bit fiddly for you I’ve got an alternative view. 

So, 2019-style grade profiles and record breaking numbers should be good news for institutional recruitment, right?

Well, up to a point. For SQA day, it’s only really worth looking at Scotland-domiciled students – we can say that among this group we have the highest proportion (and second highest number) of students taking up their firm offer on record. Overall, there are more Scotland domiciled students in the system than last year. As usual with UCAS and Scotland this isn’t the whole story, as we don’t get data on recruitment via the FE college system.

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A squint at non-EU international students suggests that in terms of numbers in the UCAS system we are not far off last year – and a similar number and proportion are currently placed as at this point last year.

What does this mean for the UK overall? It’s far too early to say. The traditional August blizzard of “university isn’t worth it” articles has started, and we already know that the numbers in the system are very slightly down on the last two years. There’s been some handwringing about two consecutive years of applicant drops – something that you have to go back as far as 2016-2018 to see in the data.