The number of applicants has topped 600,000 for the first time, the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS) has revealed – up around 60,000 on last year.

Vice chancellors have warned of chaos when A level results are issued in less than two weeks time and said the number of people who will be turned away is "a tragedy".

The increased competition means that an average of seven applicants will be fighting for every university place on offer through the clearing system.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Anthony McClaran, the chief executive of the UCAS, which runs the applications process, said the 10,000 extra places offered by the Government this month in a bid to avert a crisis, on top of a planned annual increase of 3,000 full-time places, had not kept pace with the "huge" growth in applicants.

"This week, for the first time we have gone through the 600,000 applicant level," he said. "It is a very, very significant increase. It's huge. And that is on top of a 10 per cent increase last year. The 10,000 extra places make an impact but they do not completely keep pace with the increased level of demand.

"If you have a 10 per cent increase in applications and you have an increase in places of a bit more than 1 per cent, it obviously means there are going to be fewer places available in clearing. We know that 43,000 students found places through clearing last year. It is difficult to see this year how it can be many more than about half of that. That is what our modelling suggests – about half that number placed this year."

The chief executive warned that even students who do well in their A-levels but just miss the grades needed to meet their offer will struggle.

"There may be less flexibility this year for universities in England to accept students who have just missed," he said. "The fact is that usually, a significant number of students who just miss their grades are still accepted on their courses. That will be more difficult this year."

At this point in the admissions process last year, 540,108 students had applied for places. Following clearing, a total of 456,627 were accepted on to full-time undergraduate course, which means 83,481 failed to find places. Although the number of places on offer has increased by 13,000 this year, the huge rise in applications – to more than 600,000 – means more than 130,000 applicants could be left disappointed, although some of these will fail their exams, go on gap years or withdraw their application for other reasons.

Part of the increase in applications comes from mature students, with a rise of more than 18.8 per cent from those aged over 25. There has also been an increase in demand from students in other European Union countries. These students are funded in the same way as British students and count towards universities' student quotas.

It has been suggested that some students who will loose out in the scramble for places should consider part-time degrees rather than the normal three years of full-time study.

"Some students, but by no means all, might want to look at a different way of accessing university and think about part time study," said Mr McClaran.

Prof Les Ebdon, the vice chancellor of Bedfordshire University and chairman of the Million+ group of universities, said: "It is going to be chaos."

"There will be a lot of tearful youngsters out there. The last 10 years of education policy have been designed to increase applications to higher education. Now the policy has been successful, we are turning people away. It is a tragedy.''

David Willetts, the shadow universities secretary, said: "Tens of thousands of people who hoped to go on to higher education face a brick wall.

"Gordon Brown talks about investment in the future but for the students turned away by universities this year, he has failed."

UCAS and Universities UK, the umbrella group for the sector, has written to schools to warn them of the "intense competition for places" and a "briefer and tighter" clearing process.

Schools and colleges across the country are now braced to deal with the onslaught of thousands of anxious sixth formers seeking the few remaining undergraduate courses. UCAS has employed 40 more staff members and will have about 110 people manning the phones at the start of clearing.

Jo Shuter, the head teacher of Quintin Kynaston School in north London, said: "It is always an anxious and traumatic time and this year, our staff will have a huge amount of work to do supporting sixth formers after A-level results come through.

"As schools get more pupils though GCSEs and more stay on and want to go to universities, it raises a huge question about what the Government and the higher education sector is going to do to cope with demand."

(www.eduwo.com, Jainlyn&Charlotte)