Report shows large increase in applications to study in the UK
UCAS claimed that figures were "encouraging"
The number of applications submitted to universities and colleges in the UK has risen by over 26,000 in the past year.
A report from UCAS, the group responsible for administrating applications to British institutions, has shown that the number of applicants grew 6.7 per cent this year.
However, UCAS highlighted that the findings may be affected by the inclusion of those applying for diplomas in midwifery and nursing, who had not been included in the 2007 statistics.
The report, which is based on all applications submitted before the 15 January deadline, also showed an 18.2 per cent increase in the number of applications from people over the age of 25.
The number of overseas applications have also risen by 8.8 per cent.
However, despite increased funding being allocated to widening participation in further education, there was only a small increase in the number of applicants from lower income backgrounds, from 28.9 per cent in 2007 to 29.6 per cent this year.
The largest rise was in the number of Bulgarian applicants, which doubled from 400 to over 800.
There were also marked increases in the number of applicants from China, Norway, Canada, and Lithuania. All home nations also showed an increase in applicants.
The only overseas countries highlighted as having fewer applications than the previous year were Nigeria, Poland, Sweden, India and Ireland.
The report also looked at applications by gender, highlighting the continued trend of more female than male applications. However, the gap has got wider with a 7.2 per cent increase in male applicants being shadowed by a 10.2 per cent increase in applications from females.
UCAS Chief Executive, Anthony McClaran said: “These figures show that for the second year running we are seeing strong growth in the level of applications for undergraduate courses.
“These figures provide an encouraging indication for the likely position in the summer and, of course, there will still be thousands more applications between now and then."
Although there was a drop in the number of applications to most individual subject areas and institutions, UCAS blamed this on the change in the number of courses applicants can choose, reduced from six to five in 2007.
The most popular area remains law by subject, followed by pre- clinical medicine, psychology, English Studies and Management Studies.
Applications to most Edinburgh universities were also down, with Edinburgh University applicants falling 5.7 per cent. Applications to Napier were down 1.0 per cent, whilst applications to Heriott Watt and Queen Margaret were both dropped around 9.0 per cent. Only the Edinburgh College of Art showed had more applications than last year, up 4.8 per cent.
However, the National Union of Students warned against celebrating the findings of the report.
NUS President Gemma Tumelty said: "It would be extremely misleading to use these early, snapshot figures to judge the Government's performance on widening participation. They do not show the full picture of this year's applications, and they include nursing and midwifery statistics for the first time, meaning that any comparison with last year is pointless.
"It is far more useful to look at the complete statistics on accepted applications from 2007, which were published by UCAS just a few weeks ago - they showed that the number of students actually entering university from working class backgrounds had fallen since top-up fees were introduced.”
The next UCAS report into 2008 applications is expected in April.
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