October 26, 2011 3.21 pm This story is over 148 months old

Drop in university applications ‘too early’ to reflect Lincoln

Too early: National figures show a drop in student applications ahead of tuition fees trebling, but Lincoln says it’s too early to tell.

A national drop of 12% in student applications for 2012 — when tuition fees will treble up to £9,000 per year — is not the case for Lincoln, the city’s universities said.

This year’s figures from the Universities and Colleges and Admissions Service (UCAS) show that the number of applications received by October 15 has fallen by 12.1%.

The number of applicants from the East Midlands is down 20%, from Yorkshire down 17.3% and by 14.7% from the north-east, the UCAS figures show.

The drop in student applications has been pitted as a direct result of the increase in tuition fees next year, of up to £9,000 per year at many universities.

In Lincoln, the University of Lincoln will also charge £9,000 per year for its courses, while Bishop Grosseteste will charge £7,500 for undergraduate courses.

However, it’s “too early to speculate” whether Lincoln will see a drop in students next year, University of Lincoln Registrar Chris Spendlove told The Lincolnite:

“We know from experience that, at this stage in the application cycle, the University of Lincoln has previously received only around 5% of the ultimate number of applications for the year.

“It is, therefore, far too early to speculate about potential student numbers,” Spendlove said.

Spendlove also explained the Ucas figures relate primarily to applications for medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses and to Oxford and Cambridge, for which the deadline was October 15.

Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln Principal, Professor Muriel Robinson, also told The Lincolnite it was too early to predict if student numbers will drop:

“It’s early in the recruitment process, but so far our applications are higher than this time last year.

“Record numbers attended our recent open day and were clearly taking great care over their choice of course and institution.”