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Education: Sharp slump in applications at Leeds’s universities
DOWN: Leeds Met applications are down 30 per cent.
In the wake of a rise in tuition fees Susan Press reports on a fall in the number of people seeking places at Leeds’s universities.
University applications in Yorkshire have fallen sharply following the massive rise in tuition fees with the county suffering one of the worst slumps in numbers.
Official figures released by UCAS show the county’s biggest fall in university applications in more than 30 years,with a decrease of 17.3 per cent compared to last year’s level
The statistic is more than double the fall in the south-east, where numbers are down by only 8.1 per cent.
Yorkshire was second only to the East Midlands, which has seen a 20 per cent decrease in applications.
And academics’ union UCU, which represents hundreds of lecturers in Yorkshire, says the increase in fees is clearly having a serious impact.
Leeds-based regional UCU official Mark Oley said: “The Government’s fees policy has been a disaster from the start. Now is the time for a rethink to avoid doing serious damage to our universities and young people’s futures.
“These depressing figures take us back to the time when it was cost, not ability, that determined your future.”
Of the 26 universities that provided figures, 15 reported a decline in applicants.
At Leeds Metropolitan University, the statistics show that applications are already down more than 30 per cent from 1,684 this time last year to 1,167.
However, a spokesman said: “The deadline for applications through UCAS is January 2012, therefore it is still too early in the cycle to give an overview of the picture for next year.
“Leeds Metropolitan University held open days last weekend which were as popular as previous years, with over 2,000 attending each day on Saturday and Sunday.”
Students who led last year’s protests against the rise in fees from £3,000 to up to £9,000 a year say the figures were inevitable.
Mark Sewards, spokesman for Leeds Students’ Union, said: “We always predicted there would be a drop in numbers. Higher Education in this country is being destroyed by the Government and it is a real shame that young people are paying the price.”
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