University applications on the increase

**UCAS statistics have indicated that undergraduate applications for higher education in England have risen by 2.8 per cent since last year.**

However, they’ve still not returned to the level they were before the tuition fee increase.

When the UCAS application deadline closed on January 15th, UCAS confirmed that they received 559,000 applications – 19,000 more than last year.

Last year’s fall in applications was attributed to the increase in university tuition fees from £3500 to £9000.

However, this year’s increase in applications has led to the belief that increasing tuition fees has not led to a downward trend in applications nor discouraged students from applying to university.

On the other hand, James Entwistle, student education officer at Warwick University, argues that last year’s lower quantity of applications was due to “government incompetency and mishandling of the figures”.

The government announced a ruling that allowed universities to take on unlimited AAB students, leading to many applicants deferring their applications to this year, hence the slight increase in applications.

Mr Entwistle also commented that the applications are still 12 per cent lower than the 2011 figures, “demonstrating the tuition fee increases have deterred some students.”

Applications for vocational subjects have also increased. The most popular subject this year was Computer Science, with a 12.3 per cent increase.

The Social Sciences, in general, have had the biggest fall in applications, but still have around six applicants for every place available so is still extremely competitive, according to Peter Dunn, head of Warwick communications.

In terms of international applications, from outside the EU there has been an upsurge of almost 10 per cent.

Vasundhara Chowdry, first-year Law student from India, stated that the fee increase did not play any significant role in her decision to study at university, despite the fees almost doubling. She noted that “in comparison to studying in America, England is still a lot cheaper.”

There were also major differences in applications within the EU. There were increases of 7 per cent in Northern Ireland, 3 per cent in England, 2 per cent in Scotland and a fall of 2 per cent in Wales.

With the Welsh Labour Government’s decision to continue subsidising welsh students wishing to
study in England, the decrease in applications from Welsh students was particularly surprising.

“College don’t seem to have that big a focus this year on [university] applications, and people seem to be more put off by the living costs,” stated Karl Latham, prospective computer science student from Wales.

Whilst Sarah Clark, prospective fashion photography student also from Wales, assigns the decrease in applications from Welsh students as the commonly perceived myth that there is “little chance of getting a place” as a Welsh student in a British University.

The University of Warwick will release their applicant statistics later on in the year for the 2012-2013 cycle.