A record 10,000 fewer young women apply for university with big drops in nursing and teaching
- Figure has fallen for first time in more than decade according to dataHE analysis
- It is thought that the fall in applications to nursing and teaching courses this year
- Read more: University students occupy three campus buildings amid rent strike
A record 10,000 fewer young women have applied to start university courses this September, analysis has revealed.
The figure has fallen for the first time in more than a decade, according to analysis by dataHE.
It is thought that the fall in applications to nursing and teaching courses this year has contributed to the decline.
During the pandemic, the number of applicants choosing to study nursing surged with many reporting that Covid had inspired them to apply. But the latest figures – which were published in the same week that nurses in England went on strike in a dispute over pay – showed a change in attitude.
In the last academic year, more than 180,000 18-year-old women – 50.4 per cent of those in the UK – applied for university. In 2023, the application rate fell to 47.6 per cent – a drop of around 10,000.
A record 10,000 fewer young women have applied to start university courses this September
Mark Corver, managing director of dataHE, said inflation may be forcing universities to take on higher fee-paying international students.
He said: ‘UK 18-year-olds, and women in particular, are the core of entrants to degree programmes.
‘Last year many universities felt forced to cut back on intakes here, despite high demand, because the frozen tuition fee has fallen below the inflating costs of teaching them.
‘The unusual drops in demand this year will start to raise concerns that as universities are forced to cut back the choice for UK students, saying ‘no’ too many times will put people off their university ambitions altogether.’
It comes as the latest UCAS figures show that the number of applicants to university or college courses this year has fallen.
A total of 596,590 people had applied to undergraduate courses at UK institutions by the January deadline – down 2.3 per cent on the same point last year
The number of applicants to nursing courses fell by 18.6 per cent, with applications to education teaching courses down 15.6 per cent.
Ucas chief executive Clare Marchant said polling of students suggested that ‘cost of living factors’ are making applicants re-evaluate their choice of subject based on “future career prospects’.
More people were found to be applying to study computing (a rise of 9.6 per cent) and law (a rise of 2.1 per cent), while interest in apprenticeships rose by 8.7 per cent.
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