14th July 2017 1:00
By Blue Tutors
EU applications are down by 5% on last year’s figures, despite promises by many universities that fees for EU students will remain unchanged for this year’s entrants even after the triggering of Article 50. There is also a decline in numbers on the home front, blamed mainly on the changes in funding – namely the inflationary increase in fees, higher interest rates on student loans and removal of maintenance grants.
The hardest hit group of applicants were mature students, with a decline of 19% and 14% for men and women over 35 respectively. Part-time applications have also seen a large reduction, presumed to be due to increased maintenance cost and reduced access to finds. Another big factor in the overall decline is the significant fall in those studying nursing, down 19% after government subsidies were removed earlier this year.
The geographic spread is a mixed picture, with just over 1% decline of Scottish applicants, as opposed to 5% less applicants from Wales. The only category to increase was non-EU overseas students. The 2% increase is good news for Universities as international students are in the highest fee-paying band, bringing in vital cash for institutions. It is also good news for the UK in general as international students currently contribute almost £26 billion annually to the UK economy.
The overall reduction in application numbers is, however, misleading. EU applications rose dramatically last year because of Brexit fears, making the comparison more exaggerated compared so the inflated numbers. Equally, the drop in absolute numbers of domestic applicants comes at a time when the proportion of school leavers applying for further education is at an all-time high, with over one in three students intending to go to university. One thing to consider is the UK’s demography; the number of 18-year-olds in the UK has been steadily falling over the last seven years, meaning there is a smaller pool of potential applicants. Given that this group makes up half of all applicants, lower numbers overall account for the dramatic fall compared to last year’s numbers.