David Brack Head of Customer Experience UCAS

1. H e a d l i n e a n a l y s i s f ro m t h e
2 0 1 6 / 1 7 H E a d m i s s i o n s c y c l e
a n d 2 0 1 7 / 1 8 c y c l e t o d a t e
David Brack
Head of Customer Experience
UCAS

2. Headlines from the
2016/17
HE admissions cycle

3. # H U E M E A 1 7
535,000 people entered UK HE in 2016, an increase of 0.5% on last year
Acceptances by
domicile group

4. # H U E M E A 1 7
The number of 18 year olds accepted at HEPs rose by 1.5% to 238,900 –
the highest on record
UK acceptances by age
group

5. # H U E M E A 1 7
Slowdown in the gap between the most and least advantaged in society
entering HE
Entry rates for English 18 year olds by
multiple equality measure groups
(group 5 most likely to enter HE)

6. # H U E M E A 1 7
Acceptances from other EU countries rose by 7%
to 31,400 – the highest on record
Number of acceptances in 2016 by
selected European country

7. # H U E M E A 1 7
Acceptances to HEPs with high or medium entry requirements increased to
their highest on record, students placed at low tariff HEPs fell 2.9%
Acceptances by provider tariff group

8. Headlines from the
15 January 2017
deadline

9. # H U E M E A 1 7
Total applicants for UK HE down 5% to 564,190 – a return to 2013 cycle levels
Change in total applicants at January
2017 deadline

10. • Falling demand from EU
applicants
• Falling demand for Nursing
• Falling demand from mature
applicants
• Slowdown in growth for 18 year
old applicants
Four key drivers behind
the fall in demand

11. # H U E M E A 1 7
Falling demand from EU applicants
• EU applicant figures decreased by 7% to
42,000
• Applicant numbers from international
applicants have stagnated

12. • The subject experiencing the most notable decrease in applications is nursing
• Applicants in England making at least one choice to nursing fell by 23%
• Most applicants to nursing are mature applicants aged 19+ and this cohort
decreased between 16% and 29%
Falling demand for Nursing

13. # H U E M E A 1 7
Falling demand from mature
applicants
Continued decline in applications from
mature applicants – 19 year old
applicants have fallen by 9%, 20 year
olds by 9%, 21-24 year olds by 15%
and 25 year olds and over by 23%

14. 18 year old applicant numbers are similar to last year at 272,330 despite a fall of
1% in the 18 year old population, but growth rate note keeping up with rate of
population decline
Slowdown in growth in 18 year old applicants

15. Questions?
David Brack
D.Brack@ucas.ac.uk