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@ Monster - You still apply via UCAS to I think 6 institutions at a time and they then pass the apps to the individual universities. And the clearing system still works the same way I think, if you don't have get the required grades for your original offers and so on.
The biggest changes since you left are the increase in fees and the changes to the grants and loan system. Things have got a lot more monetized and students are much more 'customers' than before. Also, the polytechnics and so forth have all been turned into universities so there isn't the corresponding PCAS application alongside UCAS (that might have been before you left?).
The drive to get 50% of school leavers to university (stupid fucking idea) has led to an increase in non-academic 'degrees' - or rather the academicising of previously non-acedemic subjects like hotel catering - and the devaluing of degrees - so jobs that used to require A-levels now require degrees, and many employers who used to employ people with a BA now look for a post grad - similarly, whereas a 2:1 or a 2:2 would get you into graduate employments nowadays you really need a 1st for a lot of those starter graduate jobs.
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