An early proposal was made for the new merged body to be called PUCCA (Polytechnics and Universities Central Council on Admissions) but this was never adopted.

[5] UCCA was the older of the two bodies, having been formed in 1961 to provide a clearing house for university applications in the United Kingdom.

It was created in response to concerns during the 1950s that the increase in University applications was unmanageable using the systems then in place, where each student applied individually to as many institutions as they chose.

Oxford and Cambridge joined (with slightly modified procedures) for the 1966 entry; the London medical and dental schools, as well as Belfast and Stirling for the 1967.

Although the polytechnics were degree-teaching institutions, through the CNAA awards system, they were not eligible for admission to UCCA as it was reserved only for universities with degree-awarding powers.

Despite this, the Polytechnics were involved as early as 1972 in discussions with UCCA and the Central Register and Clearing House about the possible future shape of one or more admissions systems.

[10] A grant of £210,000, from the British Department for Education and Science, was awarded to set up a new unified admissions system, provisionally called PUCCA.

[12] Initially the application form was branded jointly UCCA/PCAS[16] but in 1994 the new merged body was officially renamed UCAS.

After following their internal policies, which may include an interview, the institutions then decide whether to make students an offer of a place.

[21] Once logged into "Apply", applicants complete a number of personal details – including their current qualifications, employment, criminal history, national identity, ethnic origin and student finance arrangements.

[26] The final part of the process involves paying an application fee and obtaining a written reference.

The process varies depending on whether a student is applying through a school, college, or UCAS centre or as an individual.

Individual applicants should request their reference – from a teacher, adviser, or professional who knows them – before paying the fee and submitting the form themselves.

Offers are made through the UCAS Track service by universities and are either unconditional or conditional, where the latter means that the student will receive a place dependent on exam performance.

This practice was temporarily banned at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic[29] and the UK government discourages universities from giving out these offers.

Those that do not meet their "firm" and "insurance" offer conditions are eligible to use UCAS' Clearing service – which enables unplaced students to apply for courses with vacancies directly to the university.

Although most available places are published following results days in August, it opens at the start of July each year and closes in October.

[32][33] UCAS operates Conservatoires UK Admissions Service (formally known as CUKAS) in conjunction with Conservatoires UK, managing applications for both undergraduate and postgraduate music, dance, and drama courses at nine UK conservatoires: Students must apply through the online CUKAS service by: UCAS Teacher Training (UTT) is an application service for postgraduates that want to become teachers.

UTT replaced UCAS' previous GTTR teacher training application service and expanded its remit to provide centralised admissions for School Direct and school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) programs.

It was introduced with the objective to offer students access to over 20,000 courses at 18 participating universities and colleges in England, Scotland and Wales – both taught and research courses leading to a variety of qualifications – including MA, MSc, MBA and LLM.

UCAS has launched UCAS Progress, a service enabling GCSE students to search and apply for post-16 work and education-based training courses – including academic and vocational courses (such as A levels and BTECs), as well as Apprenticeship and Traineeship programmes.

UCAS Progress also helps schools, colleges and local authorities address recruitment issues and statutory obligations resulting from raising the age of participation in secondary education; an initiative that legally obliges students to remain in full-time education or work-based training until the end of the academic year that they turn 17.

UCAS undergraduate admissions handled almost three million applications from 700,000 UK, EU and international students.

In 2014 deputy director of Big Brother Watch, Emma Carr was quoted as saying: "UCAS is perfectly within the law to sell on this information, but the way they are doing so, as is the situation with most data gathering organisations, is underhand.

"[35]In 2019, Martin Lewis, the consumer finance expert, accused UCAS of abusing its position after it allowed a private debt company to promote high interest commercial loans to school leavers.