UCAS this week published the 2012/13 applicant figures for students to UK universities. The data set shows an 7.4% decrease on the same stage last year. UCAS Chief Executive Mary Curnock Cook said: "There has been a headline drop of 7.4% in applicants with a slightly larger fall in England.The more detailed analysis of application rates for young people takes account of population changes. This shows a fall of just one percentage point in the application rate in England, with little change across the rest of the UK”. Interestingly, she added that “our analysis shows that decreases in demand are slightly larger in more advantaged groups than in the disadvantaged groups. Widely expressed concerns about recent changes in HE funding arrangements having a disproportionate effect on more disadvantaged groups are not borne out by these data”.
This will no doubt prove interesting to the new Independent commission on fees recently set up by the government, to look at the impact of the increase in fees on university participation. Chair of the commission Will Hutton said that it would “provide an independent check on the biggest reforms for higher education in a generation, particularly looking at what impact higher fees have on prospective students from less privileged backgrounds”. An article in the Guardian suggests the biggest impact has been on mature students.