Technologic
30-01-2012, 11:50 AM
From:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16787948
University applications from UK students for the first year of higher tuition fees are down by 8.7%, according to figures from the admissions service.
With fees rising to up to £9,000 per year, the impact has been biggest for England's universities - down by 9.9%.
In Scotland, where students do not pay tuition fees, there was a fall of 1.5%.
But Universities UK said the "dip is far less dramatic than many were initially predicting".
The figures published by the UCAS admissions service show that by the 15 January deadline there were 462,507 applications for courses beginning in September.
This represented a 8.7% drop in applications from students in the UK - but an increase in overseas applications meant that the overall figure was 7.4% lower than at the same point last year.
Applications from students from other European Union countries, who would also be affected by the fee hike, decreased sharply - by 11.2%.
But overall figures were buoyed by a continuing increase in applications from outside the EU, up by 13.7%, particularly from countries in the Far East.
There have also been signs of an increase in UK students applying overseas.
Maastricht University in the Netherlands, where fees are £1,500 per year, is reporting a surge in applications.
So far the university says it has received applications from 255 UK students and is forecasting that they will receive 600 applications during the current admissions cycle.
The 1994 Group of research intensive universities said that figures showed that some students "have obviously been wary of applying this year".
The group's chairman, Professor Michael Farthing, said "the uncertainty caused by the government's haphazard approach to reform has not helped".
This is not an attack on the rise in fees because, frankly, it had to happen. We're bankrupt and can't afford it. However, the way the government has handled it, rushing it through and leaving thousands of students without a clue of what's going on was, is an absolute joke. There is a distinct lack of information for students about the changing fee structures and instead they have been forced to rely on scare-mongering from the media. If it had been set out over a longer period, with more information, instead of rushing it through i'm quite sure there would not have been such a large dip in application numbers.
Opinions?
University applications from UK students for the first year of higher tuition fees are down by 8.7%, according to figures from the admissions service.
With fees rising to up to £9,000 per year, the impact has been biggest for England's universities - down by 9.9%.
In Scotland, where students do not pay tuition fees, there was a fall of 1.5%.
But Universities UK said the "dip is far less dramatic than many were initially predicting".
The figures published by the UCAS admissions service show that by the 15 January deadline there were 462,507 applications for courses beginning in September.
This represented a 8.7% drop in applications from students in the UK - but an increase in overseas applications meant that the overall figure was 7.4% lower than at the same point last year.
Applications from students from other European Union countries, who would also be affected by the fee hike, decreased sharply - by 11.2%.
But overall figures were buoyed by a continuing increase in applications from outside the EU, up by 13.7%, particularly from countries in the Far East.
There have also been signs of an increase in UK students applying overseas.
Maastricht University in the Netherlands, where fees are £1,500 per year, is reporting a surge in applications.
So far the university says it has received applications from 255 UK students and is forecasting that they will receive 600 applications during the current admissions cycle.
The 1994 Group of research intensive universities said that figures showed that some students "have obviously been wary of applying this year".
The group's chairman, Professor Michael Farthing, said "the uncertainty caused by the government's haphazard approach to reform has not helped".
This is not an attack on the rise in fees because, frankly, it had to happen. We're bankrupt and can't afford it. However, the way the government has handled it, rushing it through and leaving thousands of students without a clue of what's going on was, is an absolute joke. There is a distinct lack of information for students about the changing fee structures and instead they have been forced to rely on scare-mongering from the media. If it had been set out over a longer period, with more information, instead of rushing it through i'm quite sure there would not have been such a large dip in application numbers.
Opinions?