Gove Wrong Again
Thomas Jones
When he allowed universities to charge students up to £9000 a year in tuition fees, Michael Gove said that the increase wouldn’t put students off. Here are the latest data from Ucas:
1. Total applicant numbers at this stage of the cycle are 7.4% lower than at the same point in 2011.
2. The number of applicants from the UK has decreased by 8.7% overall. Applicants have decreased from all UK countries: England (-9.9%), Northern Ireland (-4%), Scotland (-1.5%) and Wales (-1.9%).
3. The number of UK 18-year-old applicants (the largest single group) has decreased by 3.6 per cent compared to 2011, representing a drop of just under 8,500 people.
4. Applicants from EU countries have decreased (by 11.2%) but there has been an increase in applicants from outside the EU of 13.7%.
5. Applications have decreased to institutions located in England (-8.5%) and Wales (-9.3%) but are nearly unchanged in Northern Ireland (+0.1%) and Scotland (+0.2%).
Scottish universities don’t charge tuition fees to Scottish students.