UCAS - Application numbers hit record highs for the fourth year running

Application numbers hit record highs for the fourth year running

Monday 8 February 2010

Headline figures from UCAS show another record year for applicants to higher education - the fourth year running that full-time undergraduate applications have seen an increase.

As of 22 January 2010 there were 570,556 applicants, a rise of 106,389 or 22.9% over 2009. The UK saw an increase in applicants of 22.1%, while overseas applicants rose from 55,245 to 71,105 (up 28.7%). Ireland (50.4%), China (22.4%), Germany (23.7%) and Lithuania (102.3%) showed the most significant percentage increases.

UCAS analysis points to a number of underlying reasons for the increase:

Applications to nursing degrees are up 73.7%, (See table 7) which may be related to the news that the Nursing Diploma is being phased out between September 2011 and early 2013. In addition the 2010 figures include applications for Scottish nursing and midwifery courses (a total of 5,538 applicants) which were not previously channeled through UCAS.
The later March deadline that was used in previous years for some art and design courses is no longer available for applicants to some existing and new courses. This would explain the rise in choices to studio-based courses that historically have made up a large proportion of the courses using the former deadline - design studies (102.3%), cinematics and photography (47.5%) and fine art (129.3%). These increases are likely to level out as the cycle progresses.
Very significant increases in applications from those over 20 years of age are apparent (up 44.8% for 21 to 24 year olds, and 63.4% for over 25s).

UCAS Chief Executive, Mary Curnock Cook, highlights an additional reason, '2010 figures include 46,012 applicants who previously applied in 2009. This figure will include applicants who withdrew or decided not to take up offers, as well as those who were unsuccessful in securing a place in 2009. However the figure does represent an increase of 45.5% in the number of applicants who were reapplying compared to 2009. The proportion of total applicants who were reappliers rose from 6.8% in 2009 to 8.1% this year.'

Mary continues, 'It is clear that once again we have seen a significant rise in applications which leaves us in no doubt that, as last year, this cycle will be very challenging and competitive for applicants and the higher education sector generally. There has been a steady increase year on year since 2007, but this year shows a sizeable leap in applications.

'There are some systemic changes affecting the figures but we could also conclude that the current economic situation is causing people to apply to higher education as a way of re-training to ready themselves for the job market once the economy picks up. For instance, social work has seen a 41.3% increase and nursing a 73.7% rise.' (see table 7)

Mary goes on to say, 'With such a significant increase in the number of applications compared to the same point last year, and the extension of the January deadline by one week, the efficiency of the UCAS online application system and our capacity to be successful in response to changing application patterns becomes even more important.'

NOTES TO EDITORS

* In previous years, there were two routes into art and design. Route A had the deadline of 15 January and Route B - for the collation of applicant portfolios - had 24 March deadline. For courses starting in 2010, applicants apply through the normal route. For a minority of existing courses the deadline remains the 24 March.

The deadline for applications was changed from January 15 to January 22 this year due to the adverse weather conditions.

The tables below represent a summary of the data. To view the complete tables, please follow this link.

To view the applications digest, please follow this link.

Table 1 - Applicants

Table 2 - Gender

Table 3 - Domicile

Table 4 - Age range

Table 5 - Overseas country

Table 6 - Applicants as at January deadline for previous years

Applicants as at January 15 deadline for previous years graph

Applicants as at January deadline for previous years figures

Table 7 - Top ten subject lines by applications

Ends

UCAS is a charity and is the world's leading shared admissions service for higher education. We manage applications for full time undergraduate courses, together with applications through GTTR (Graduate Teacher Training Registry), CUKAS (Conservatoires UK Admissions Service) and UKPASS (UK Postgraduate Application and Statistical Service).

Since its inception in 1993, UCAS has processed around 30 million applications and placed over 5 million students on higher education courses.

Services include:

An informative website (www.ucas.com) enabling students and parents to access a wealth of information designed to help their application to higher education run smoothly.
A state-of-the-art contact centre (0871 468 0468) providing a point of contact for students, schools and higher education institutions.
An online application system. A simple, straightforward tracking service enabling students and schools advisors to access up-to-date information about their applications at the click of a button.
Over 50 higher education events each year providing 250,000 students with face-to-face advice on the UCAS process. Internationally, we participated in events in over 12 countries and also provided training and professional development throughout Europe and beyond.

Media contacts

Darren Barker, Corporate Communications Executive
Charlotte Knowles, Corporate Communications Manager
Telephone: 01242 545723 or 01242 544987
Email: communications@ucas.ac.uk
Out of hours: 07768 740461

Back to 2010