According to Ucas, a record number of students are expected to begin university and college this fall, with applications and offers rising by 9% in the United Kingdom alone.
As of June 30 – the final deadline for applying to up to five courses concurrently – a total of 2,955,990 applications had been made through Ucas, representing a 6% increase over the previous year’s total of 2,789,160 applications.
It was also reported that the number of applications to higher tariff universities increased by 11%, from 540,510 to 602,440.
Ms. Marchant stated that some students should consider other options “because it will be harder to get into” university, and that there may be a “sea change” in the number of degree apprenticeships and jobs available straight out of high school.
She went on to say that post-Covid, young people were increasingly choosing degrees that would “give them a career.”
According to Ucas data released earlier this year, the number of students accepted into modern language degree courses has decreased by more than a third over the last decade.
Acceptances to computer science courses have increased by 47 percent in nine years, rising from 20,420 in 2011 to 30,090 in 2020, while acceptances to engineering courses have increased by 21 percent in the same period.
Humanities subjects, on the other hand, such as English, history, and philosophy, have declined in popularity over the last decade.
According to Ms. Marchant, this may be exacerbated by the coronavirus effect, as students “recognize their degree will outlive the pandemic and they want to know what value it will give them.”
