The number of applicants to university or college courses this year has fallen, with fewer people signing up to study nursing, Ucas figures show.
A total of 596,590 people had applied to undergraduate courses at UK institutions by the January deadline – down 2.3% on the same point last year, according to data by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas). The number of applicants to nursing courses has fallen by 18.6% compared with January 2022, and applicants to education teaching courses are down 15.6%.
Ucas chief executive Clare Marchant said polling of students suggests that “cost of living factors” are making applicants re-evaluate their choice of subject based on “future career prospects”. The data from Ucas suggests that more people are applying to study computing (a rise of 9.6%) and law (a rise of 2.1%), while interest in apprenticeships has risen by 8.7% compared with January last year.
