Applications to Higher Education

Prospective full-time undergraduate students apply to Higher Education (HE) through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) prior to the start of the academic year. UCAS publishes statistics on the number of applicants to full-time undergraduate courses, as well as the number of applicants who have been accepted. UCAS figures provide the first indication of trends in HE student numbers in a given academic year. Data is available from 1996/7 academic year of entry and covers the whole UK. The latest statistics can be found in the http://www.ucas.com/about_us/media_enquiries/media_releases" class="govuk-link">Media Release section of the UCAS website.

UCAS does not cover part-time undergraduate students, nor those who apply directly to institutions; application data on such students is not held centrally. Furthermore, some accepted applicants to HE choose not to take up their place, or may decide to defer their studies. Therefore in any given academic year, the UCAS accepted applicants group is not equivalent to the actual HE entrant population.

UCAS has facilitated some postgraduate applications via UKPASS (UK Postgraduate Application and Statistical Service) since 2007, and UCAS also handles applications to postgraduate teacher training courses. However many postgraduate students continue to apply directly to institutions so comprehensive information on all postgraduate applications is not held centrally. Further information about UKPASS is available at the http://www.ukpass.ac.uk/aboutus" class="govuk-link">UKPASS website.

Student finance

When a prospective student applies for a place on a HE course, they can apply for financial support through the Student Loans Company (SLC). Information on the financial support available to HE students in England is available on the http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/index.htm" class="govuk-link">DirectGov website.

Each year, Student Finance England (SLC’s England operations) publishes Official Statistics on student finance applications and payment processing at intervals between the first application deadline (31 May) up to the start of university term-time (around October). These statistics have been published since the 2009/10 academic year, in response to increased levels of public interest in SLC’s progress with support payments, and cover England. Links to these statistics can be found on the http://www.bis.gov.uk/analysis/statistics/higher-education/official-statistics-releases/student-support-applications" class="govuk-link">Student Support Applications page.

The SLC annually publishes National Statistics on Student Support Awards (loan rates, loan take-up, grants awarded etc) in November. This release has been published since the 2004/05 academic year for England. A link to these statistics can be found on the http://www.bis.gov.uk/analysis/statistics/higher-education/national-statistics-releases/student-support-for-higher-education" class="govuk-link">Student Support page.

SLC also publishes equivalent National Statistics on http://www.slc.co.uk/statistics/official-statistics-archive.aspx" class="govuk-link">Student Support Awards for Wales and Northern Ireland.

Early student number statistics

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) collects and publishes information on students in the current academic year, from the Higher Education Students Early Statistics (HESES) and Higher Education in Further Education: Students Survey (HEIFES). These are the first

These monthly statistics reports provide data on the numbers of candidates and applications to initial teacher training (ITT) for courses beginning in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

The reports contain information on the number of candidates to ITT and their:

• application status
• age
• sex
• area of residence

The reports also contain information on the number of applications to ITT and their:

• application status
• course phase
• route into teaching
• subject
• provider region

Candidates have been able to submit applications for all Apply Teacher Training courses starting in 2021 to 2022 since 12 October 2021.

These tables are updated monthly in line with previous publications produced by UCAS, who reported on ITT recruitment prior to November 2021. The data extraction dates reflect those in previous UCAS publications.

This information may be useful for ITT providers, academics and think tanks that use the data for examining their own recruitment processes and trends in ITT recruitment.

The latest month’s data is also available in the https://www.apply-for-teacher-training.service.gov.uk/publications/monthly-statistics" class="govuk-link">live interactive dashboard.

Monthly statistics on initial teacher training recruitment: 2023 to 2024 are also available.