Decrease in number of university applicants

The number of applicants to university or college courses this year has fallen – with fewer people signing up to study nursing, new figures show.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) data shows a total of 596,590 people had applied to undergraduate courses by the January deadline - down 2.3% on the same point last year.

The number of applicants to nursing courses has fallen by 18.6% year on year, and applicants to education teaching courses are also down by 15.6%.

Ucas chief executive Clare Marchant said polling of students suggests that cost-ofliving factors are making applicants re-evaluate their choice of subject based on "future career prospects".

The data suggests more people are applying to study computing (up 9.6%) and law (up 2.1%), while interest in apprenticeships has risen by 8.7% compared with January last year.

A total of 314,660 18-yearolds from the UK had applied to courses – the second highest on record – and higher than the pre-pandemic figure of 275,300 in January 2020.

The number of mature student applicants from the UK has fallen by 14% compared with last year, which is mostly due to a decrease in nursing course demand, Ucas said.

Ms Marchant said: "This is another complex cycle with many factors impacting demand.

"Demand for undergraduate courses during Covid-19 was unprecedented and so a slight recalibration in the number of applicants might be expected, particularly for courses related to nursing and healthcare which saw exceptional growth as students wereinspiredbythepandemic to pursue these professions."