Surge in applications to art and design courses, but numbers remain down

There has been an increase in the number of applications to creative arts and design university courses starting in September, but applications are still down by almost 15 per cent from a year ago.

This compares to a 6 per cent decline in applications across all courses, according to figures from the University and Colleges Admissions Service.

The figures are the latest in the monthly updates on applications numbers from UCAS. The majority of courses have a 15 January application deadline, and UCAS says this is when the full picture of year-on-year application changes will be clear.

The latest UCAS figures show that a total of 89 794 people had applied for creative arts and design university courses by 19 December 2011. This is a drop of 14.6 per cent from the same date in 2010.

However, this is an improvement on the UCAS figures from last October, which showed that applications to creative arts and design courses had dropped by 27.1 per cent year on year, while overall applications had fallen by 7.9 per cent.

UCAS chief executive Mary Curnock Cook says, ‘Evidence of a late surge as the 15 January deadline approaches is now emerging. Applicants are taking longer to research their choices by the applications flow has speeded up, as these statistics show.’

University fees for undergraduate courses could rise to up to £9000 a year from next year, following changes to the higher education funding system.

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  • dave November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    it’s only to be expected. Kids are having to look for ‘value for money’ courses, and are struggling to find any.

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