16th November 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
UCAS have announced that 12% of UK students have chosen not to apply to university compared to last year’s figures. Reported on the BBC, UCAS have received 9% fewer applications compared to this time last year, but the overseas applications have increased, so the figure for students in the UK is closer to a 12% reduction.
It should be highlighted that these figures are provisional; the application process doesn’t close until January 2012, but applications to Oxbridge and medical schools have now closed, and they show a drop of only 0.8%.
Of course, the overall drop in numbers may be due to the large number of applicants last year to avoid the increased £9,000 tuition fees, whereas more students may take a gap year next year, and figures may simply return to ‘normal’ from now on. However, the announcement has still led some critics to argue that even though these figures aren’t final, they show that the increased cost of university tuition has, at the very least, made students think more carefully before applying to university.
The figures show that the biggest decline in applications comes from female students and mature students (over 25), with the latter group dropping by a fifth. Experts have warned that it should be a great concern if mature students are discouraged from further education, because the economy needs better trained labour, now more than ever. Also, it has been suggested that the government need to do more to ensure that students don’t think that university is now unaffordable.