Applications to British Universities Jump 10%, Led by Older Students

Applications to British universities have increased by nearly 10 percent over the same period last year, with the biggest surge coming from older students, according to new figures from the University and College Admissions Service.

The jump has been fueled by “rising numbers of older people applying to do a degree in the recession,” The Guardian reported. The newspaper also pointed out that a government cap on spending for extra university seats, imposed earlier this year, means that “competition for places at university will hit a new high as 52,000 extra people attempt to get a full-time place at university where there are only 3,000 extra spaces in the system.”

Universities UK, the umbrella organization representing universities’ chief executives, said it welcomed the “unprecedented levels of interest in higher-education courses” but acknowledged that “due to the increased pressure on places this year, competition is likely to be more intense.”

A statement issued by the 1994 Group, which consists of 18 leading research-intensive universities, said that its members “would like to help meet this healthy demand for university places from potential students but would need the additional funding required to maintain the quality of the academic experience.”

The National Union of Students urged the government to take “immediate action to increase student numbers for the coming year.” The student group acknowledged the “current pressures on public finances” but said that it would be “better to bear the cost of increasing opportunities in education and training now than to shoulder the burden of long-term unemployment later.”

Britain’s main faculty union said in a statement that, despite Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s recent boast “that he would not allow education to become a victim of the recession … the government is yet to do anything to suggest his statement was not merely rhetoric.” —Aisha Labi