Most Yorkshire unversities see applications fall

There has been an 8.9 per cent decline nationally in the number of UK students applying to start courses in 2012 as fees of up to £9,000-a-year are brought in.

Five higher education institutions in the region have seen the number of figures falling by more than 10 per cent compared with the same period last year.

However, York St John University is celebrating seeing the largest increase in the country with 11.3 per cent more people wanting to join than in 2011.

UCAS figures show the number of applications made to each university by its June 30 deadline.

Hull University has seen the biggest drop in applications in the region with 18 per cent fewer than this time last year.

UCAS figures show that it had 3,593 less applicants for courses than in 2011.

Sheffield Hallam saw its application numbers fall by 17.5 per cent while Leeds Trinity University College dropped by 16.7 per cent.

Leeds Metropolitan University also saw a large dip with 15.9 per cent fewer people bidding to start courses there while Leeds College of Music had a drop of 10.2 per cent.

Other Yorkshire universities which have seen smaller drops in applications are Leeds, with 5.8 per cent less, Bradford with a drop of 4.1 per cent, Huddersfield with 2.8 per cent and York with 0.7 per cent.

But York St John had 983 more applicants than in 2011.

York St John’s vice-chancellor, Professor David Fleming, said: “We are thrilled to have such an increase in applications, especially when overall university applications are down in England.

“The community on our campus and in the city of York makes this a great place to come and study. We’ve invested a lot in the quality of our teaching, the campus environment and opportunities for students to get fully involved in student life.

“It’s great to see that potential students and their families have recognised how much we are able to offer, I’m sure this has had a real impact on our applications.

“We’ve also put together a strong package of fee waivers and support and coupled this with increased work with schools and colleges and the provision of more information, advice and guidance.

“We want to get the message across that a university education remains an excellent choice.”

Since 2008, York St John University undergraduate applications have risen by almost 60 per cent.

For courses starting in 2012 entry it received 9,651 applications by June 30 with growth in applications for the arts, business, education and health and life sciences.

Nationally, there have been 50,000 fewer applicants for university compared with the same point last year – a drop of 8.9 per cent, according to new UCAS statistics.

In England, the numbers applying slumped by 10 per cent, a bigger fall than in Wales, 2.9 per cent, Scotland 2.1 per cent and Northern Ireland 4.5 per cent.

Among 18-year-olds, the age when teenagers traditionally go to university, the numbers were down by 2.6 per cent, while applications from 19-year-olds were down 12.1 per cent and those from 25 to 29-year-olds were down 12.2 per cent.

There was a 10.5 per cent drop in applications from 30 to 35-year-olds, while the numbers of people aged 40 and over was down 10.9 per cent.

Students starting university this autumn will be the first to pay up to £9,000 a year in tuition fees, with the majority of universities in Yorkshire planning to charge the maximum amount.

However, students will not pay anything up front with higher education continuing to be free at point of entry.

Graduates will begin repaying their loan once they earn more than £21,000-a-year.

As people earn more their repayments will increase.

Universities have been allowed to treble their fees following a major cut in Government funding of their teaching budgets – £2.9bn – in the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review.