UCAS - University and college acceptance rate stabilises with no evidence of any off-trend increase in applications, UCAS End of Cycle Report reveals.

University and college acceptance rate stabilises with no evidence of any off-trend increase in applications, UCAS End of Cycle Report reveals.

UCAS today releases its End of Cycle Report, which tells the story of university and college applications in the 2011 cycle through statistics.

The report offers the chance to reflect on the shape of the entire cycle and re-examine the early headlines and predictions. The key statistics show that this year was in many ways similar to 2010.

There were 700,161 applicants to higher education in the 2011 cycle, an increase of 2,810 (0.4 per cent) on last year. Of these 492,030 were accepted onto a course, an increase of 4,701 (1.0 per cent).

The overall acceptance rate (the proportion of applicants accepted for entry in the cycle) was 70.3 per cent - a slight increase on last year which breaks a trend of sharp declines since 2008.

One measure of demand for higher education is the application rate - that is, the proportion of the population who apply. UCAS estimates that around 32 percent of the UK's 18 year olds applied in the 2011 cycle, increasing in line with the trend over recent years.

Application rates have increased for 18 year olds of both sexes, but young women are over 30 per cent more likely to apply than young men.

Although application rates are consistent with recent year-on-year increases, there has been a change in the small number of applications (typically fewer than one in ten) for deferred entry. Applications to defer entry for one year fell by over 40 per cent, and acceptances for deferred entry by more than half.

UCAS Chief Executive Mary Curnock Cook said: "The headline from this report is that the application rates provide no evidence of the predicted 'scramble for places' before the introduction of new fee arrangements in 2012.

"Securing a place in higher education remains competitive, but recent declines in the acceptance rate were arrested in 2011".

To download a copy of the End of Cycle Report 2010/11 click here.

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UCAS Press Office: 01242 545469

James Woodward, Press Officer
Email: j.woodward@ucas.ac.uk

James Durant, Press Officer
Email: j.durant@ucas.ac.uk

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