As of 2023, T-Levels are still a relatively new post-GCSE option, particularly compared to its counterparts. The likes of A-Levels, BTECs and apprenticeships are all rather familiar routes for students.
When it comes to your next steps after studying a T-Level, it all becomes rather confusing. Can you go to university? Can you do an apprenticeship? All in all, students wonder what this qualification sets them up to be able to do. Well, that’s exactly what you’ll find out in this article.
In short, yes, it is definitely possible to be accepted into the university with T-Levels. In fact, 138 higher education providers in the UK have confirmed that they accept students with T-Levels on at least one of their courses. However, certain types of universities, particularly the more prestigious ones will not accept T-Levels. This is particularly the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, which both say that T-Levels aren’t suitable preparation for their courses.
Continue reading to gain a better understanding on universities entry requirements and how T-Levels can fit into this. This article will take you through what kinds of universities accept T-Levels, what grades you may need, UCAS points and more.
Table of Contents
Can you go to university with T-Levels?
T-Levels are a relatively new qualification as of 2023 as they were only introduced in 2020. This means that as these are 2-year qualifications, the first examination year was only in 2022. Therefore, no student was accepted onto a university course when applying with T-Levels before 2022.
You can learn more about these key facts on T-Levels by checking out this page on the government website.
However, since then, students have been able to apply to university using their T-Level predicted grades. This means that yes, you can go to university with T-Levels.
Despite this, at first universities were very wary of T-Level qualifications with the majority not confirming whether they would be accepting students with T-Levels or not. You can learn more about this, by checking out this article from FE Week.
However, since then it has become much clearer about which universities do accept T-Levels and which do not. You can learn more about this in the following section, which will tell you more about which universities accept them.
Do all universities accept T-Levels?
While you can go to university with T-Level qualifications in the UK, that doesn’t mean that you can go to any university. In fact, certain types of university in particular won’t accept students with T-Level qualifications. You can learn more about this in the next two sections on Russell Group and Oxbridge universities.
As of 2023, there are over 380 universities and other higher education providers, where students can study undergraduate courses, in the UK. As of September 2023, 138 of these higher education providers have explicitly said that they accept T-Level qualifications for at least one of their courses.
This means that only about 36% of the UK’s higher education providers do accept T-Level qualifications. You can learn more about the number of higher education providers in the UK by checking out this page on the UCAS website.
However, it’s also important to note that these are only the higher education providers, who have confirmed their stand on T-Levels. Due to this, there may still be other universities that accept student with T-Level qualifications but possibly on a case-by-case basis. As a result of this, it’s important to contact the university before ruling it out as an option completely.
If you would like to learn more about what the 138 universities that accept T-Level qualifications are, have a look at this page on the government website. You can also learn more about which universities accept T-Level qualifications by checking out this Think Student article.
Do Russell Group universities accept T-Levels?
As previously mentioned, certain types of university are less likely to accept students with T-Level qualifications. One of these types are the Russell Group universities.
The Russell Group universities are a group of 24 universities that all have a particular focus on global research. These universities are often seen as some of the most prestigious in the UK and at times, they may even be considered as the best.
You can learn more about the Russell Group universities by checking out this Think Student article. For more information on whether the Russell Group universities really are the best, check out this Think Student article.
The Russell Group universities are one of the types of universities that are less likely to accept students with T-Level qualifications due to this prestigiousness as well as the fact that they tend to have a much more academic approach to education. On the contrary, T-Level qualifications are vocational courses, that have a very specific focus on one subject or career area, unlike more academic qualifications, such as A-Levels, where you would do several in different subjects.
Despite this, some of the Russell Group universities have in fact confirmed that they do accept students with T-Level qualifications. There are 14 of these universities that are on the list of higher education providers that have confirmed their acceptance of T-Level grades from the government website, which you can find here.
Look at the following list to see what these 14 universities are.
- University of Birmingham
- University of Bristol
- Cardiff University
- University of Exeter
- University of Leeds
- University of Liverpool
- University of Manchester
- Newcastle University
- University of Nottingham
- University of Sheffield
- University of Southampton
- University College London
- University of Warwick
- University of York
The 10 remaining Russell Group universities that haven’t confirmed if they accept T-Levels are as follows.
- University of Cambridge
- Durham University
- University of Edinburgh
- University of Glasgow
- Imperial College London
- King’s College London
- London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
- University of Oxford
- Queen Mary University of London
- Queen’s University Belfast
If you would like to learn more about what the 24 Russell Group universities are, check out this page on the Russell Group website.
Does Oxbridge accept T-Levels?
Oxbridge is a term used to refer the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge collectively. These 2 universities are the most prestigious in the UK and are generally considered the best universities in the UK and among the best universities in the world.
You can check out this Think Student article, which will tell you more about how the University of Oxford compares to Harvard University, another globally acclaimed, highly prestigious university.
As these universities are so prestigious, they are also notoriously difficult to get into. Both universities have rather long and complicated application processes, including interviews, extra exams and incredibly high entry requirements. You can learn more about this, by checking out this Think Student article.
Therefore, this makes the Oxbridge universities, in particular, a specific type of university that is less likely to accept students with T-Level qualification. As expected, neither the University of Oxford nor the University of Cambridge accept students with T-Level qualifications in general.
The University of Oxford flat out states that they do not accept T-Level students onto their courses as they don’t feel that T-Levels are adequate preparation for their highly academic university programmes. You can learn more about this by checking out this page on the University of Oxford’s website.
The University of Cambridge also states that T-Level students won’t be accepted onto undergraduate degree programmes. However, their stance is a little bit more lenient as they also state that T-Level students might be considered for foundation year programmes. For more information about this, have a look at this page of the University of Cambridge’s website.
How many UCAS points do you need to get into uni?
While some universities will explicitly state the specific grade requirements that they want applicants to have, other universities will say the amount of UCAS Tariff points that they want applicants to have. UCAS points are a method of giving a numerical value to grades from different qualifications that come under the category of further education.
As not all courses are graded in the same ways and may not even be worth the same, these UCAS points allow universities to set requirements across all of these different qualifications, including T-Levels, that students may be applying with.
You can learn more about what UCAS points are by checking out this Think Student article.
As previously mentioned, due to the fact that universities are independent, they set their own entry requirements. Due to this, there’s no set amount of UCAS points that you’ll need as it will depend on the university.
However, on average, most universities will require for students to have around 112 UCAS points or more to be accepted onto their course. Once again, some courses, particularly more competitive ones and ones at more prestigious universities are more likely to want you to have more UCAS points than this.
Alternatively, the university may require a slightly lower amount of UCAS points depending on the course you’re applying for. To get a more specific guide on just how many UCAS point you’ll need for university, it’s best to refer to the websites of the universities you’re planning to apply to.
You can learn more about the general amount of UCAS points you’ll need when applying to university in this Think Student article.
How many UCAS points is a T-Level worth?
We’ve just looked at how many UCAS points you may need to get into university. However, you might be wondering what this even means for T-Levels and being accepted into university with these.
After all, T-Levels are much newer qualifications, compared to the likes of A-Levels and Highers, so you might even be wondering whether T-Levels actually have UCAS points attributed to them.
Simply put, yes T-Levels do have UCAS points attributed to them. Each T-Level qualification is roughly equivalent to 3 A-Levels. By extension, the UCAS Tariff points attributed to each T-Level grade would be the equivalent of 3 A-Level grades.
Look at the following table to see how many UCAS points you would get for each T-Level grade. To get a better idea of what these UCAS points mean, there is also the A-Level grade equivalent to act as a reference point.
| T-Level grade | UCAS Tariff Points | A-Level grade |
| Distinction*(A* on core and
distinction in the occupational specialism) |
168 | A*AA |
| Distinction | 144 | AAA |
| Merit | 120 | BBB |
| Pass (C or above on core subject) | 96 | CCC |
| Pass (D or above on core subject) | 72 | DDD |
To learn more about how many UCAS points you can get for each grade for a T-Level qualification, check out this Think Student article.
Therefore, this would mean that to get into university, students would typically need to get a Merit in their T-Level course or higher to put them above the 112 UCAS points that are needed on average as the minimum. However, this will still once again depend on the university and what course you’re applying for as some might accept students, who have received 96 or even 72 UCAS points in their T-Level qualification.