Exodus of young men hits numbers going to university

AN EXODUS of young men will drive a slump in numbers going to university this year, the head of the higher education admissions service has warned.

Ucas chief Clare Marchant said 2.5 per cent fewer students than last year were likely to be offered places for degrees next week.

It comes as the proportion of male school leavers applying to go to university has fallen to its lowest level in three years. Growing concern over the value of £9,250-a-year degrees was highlighted in the Mail on Saturday by the authors of a new book called The Great University Con.

Miss Marchant said a degree was ‘usually worthwhile’ but admitted ‘university is not for everybody’, The Sunday Times reported.

The former chief executive of Worcestershire County Council called for a greater range of apprenticeships. She also suggested some young people would be better off entering the job market before possibly applying for a degree when they are older.

Warning teenagers not to ‘follow their passions’ without considering the consequences, she said: ‘If I had followed my passions at 18 I would have done a running degree.’

Research has shown white working-class boys are the least likely to go to university.

Overall, the total number of university applications is down by 3.4 per cent on last year. Some of this is from a downturn in older and parttime students.

The slump comes as universities, scramble to fill places after caps on student numbers were lifted. The number of unconditional university places being offered has soared by 29 per cent this year.

Overall, 23 per cent of 18-year-old applicants – 58,385 in total from England, Wales and Northern Ireland – have received at least one unconditional offer. Five years ago the figure was 1 per cent.

Educationist Alan Smithers said of the fall in applications: ‘These figures are a wake-up call.’