Admission control

Ucas is upbeat about applications but the figures may not be good news for everyone

It was with bated breath that universities awaited the publication today of the latest Ucas figures showing the number of applications to higher education, and the number of offers that institutions made, by the admission body’s application deadline of 30 June.

The reason is simple. In 2008-09, the proportion of UK higher education’s income that came from tuition fees was 29 per cent; in 2018-19, it was 49 per cent. Since tuition fees came in, the burden for funding UK universities—in England, Wales and to a lesser extent Northern Ireland—has shifted from the state to individual students. It is their fees that not only fund teaching but also cross-subsidise research and capital funding. But you already know all that. You also know that the 2012 rise in fees was accompanied by a decline in the teaching grant.