(left to right) Richard Lister, Executive Director of UCS, Professor Mike Saks, Provost of UCS and Sarah Meelan, Director of Human Resources and Capital Development, standing outside the James Hehir building at the University Campus Suffolk (UCS)
Suffolk/Essex: UCS sees applications drop 20% while University of Essex bucks national trend
By Laurence Cawley
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
6:00 AM
CONFUSION surrounding the tution fee system is partly to blame for a 20% drop in the number of people wanting to come to Suffolk to do a degree, it was claimed last night.
Figures released by The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) show how the number of people applying for courses that start in September was 462,507 nationally, a drop of 8.7% on last year’s 506,388 figure.
However, University Campus Suffiolk (UCS), which is split across numerous sites including Ipswich, Lowestoft, Otley and Bury St Edmunds, has fared far worse. with the number of courses applied for dropping from 3,208 in 2011 to 2,559 this year - a fall of more than 20%.
Next year, UCS plans to charge up to £8,000 for a BA or BSc degree compared with the £3,375 charged this year.
UCS bosses last night moved to reassure the public that the drop in applications, although a “concern”, would not have an adverse impact on the institution.
Richard Lister, deputy Provost at UCS, said: ““Clearly we are concerned to see a reduction in overall applications but this is largely due to comparing with 2011, a year when we grew applications at seven times the national average.
“Compared to 2010 we are still up by 10% - and as our graduating student numbers are quite small this year I am confident that UCS as a whole will grow in 2012 despite the fall in applications so far.”
Asked whether tuition fees had played a part in the drop in applications, Mr Lister said: “I don’t think it is tuition fees per se, but the uncertainty around the system which might have played a part. There’s still an awful lot of applicants who don’t completely understand the system.”
Speaking about the national picture, Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU) said: “These figures are very worrying and once again highlight the Government’s folly in raising tuition fees to as much as £9,000 a year.
“We cannot afford a system that puts people off university if we are to compete in the modern world. Other countries are encouraging their best and brightest to get on, not putting up punitive barriers. This Government risks returning us to a time when money, not ability, mattered most for success.”
Universities and Science Minister David Willetts said: “The proportion of English school leavers applying to university today is greater than ever before, barring last year.
“It is encouraging that applications from people from some of the most disadvantaged backgrounds remain strong, with only a 0.2 per cent decrease.
“Even with a small reduction in applications, this will still be a competitive year like any other as people continue to understand that university remains a good long-term investment in your future.
“It is important that people have the information they need to make life-changing decisions about their future.”
The University of East Anglia in Norwich has also suffered, with a 14.4% drop from 22,096 applications in 2011 to 19,309 this year. However, the University of Essex has seen a 3.6% rise in applications from 18,827 to 19,558 and the University of Cambridge a 2.3% increase from 15,329 to 15,675.
The Vice-Chancellor at Essex University, Professor Colin Riordan, said: “This is an encouraging sign that students are recognising the value of an Essex degree.
“We are focusing on investing in the best possible student experience, with teaching inspired by our leading academic research. What is really encouraging is the trend in applications over the last four years which shows an increase of some 45%.”
Latest News See all
- Ipswich: Former Ipswich Town and England footballer Kevin Beattie admits £8k benefit charge
- Update: Stab victim in stable condition after attack near Ipswich Crown Court
- Video: Freerunners have two weeks to raise cash for American dream
- Ipswich/Fexlistowe: Teen speaks of her horror as bus ploughs into sign at Ipswich Hospital
- Ipswich/Felixstowe: My bus smash horror - teen tells of miracle escape as double-decker hits A&E department
More news
- Ipswich: Former Ipswich Town and England footballer Kevin Beattie admits £8k benefit charge
- Update: Stab victim in stable condition after attack near Ipswich Crown Court
- Video: Freerunners have two weeks to raise cash for American dream
- Ipswich/Fexlistowe: Teen speaks of her horror as bus ploughs into sign at Ipswich Hospital
- Ipswich/Felixstowe: My bus smash horror - teen tells of miracle escape as double-decker hits A&E department
- Ipswich: New interim hospital chief is ready to listen
- Ipswich: Dad claimed £16k in disability cash for footballer son
- Ipswich: Historic buildings at risk
- Poll: Tickets for Olympic torch party in Ipswich available tomorrow morning
- Ipswich: Growth of town puts MPs at loggerheads
9 comments
Scott Brock - how in any way can a TWENTY per cent drop in student applications be considered a "success"?!
Report this comment
Ipswich Red
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Come on, who's going to pay £8k to go to university in Ipswich or Bury St Edmunds? This is going to lead to yet more cuts and job losses at universities by this dismal Tory-led government at a time when our competitor's are soaring ahead of us and we desperately need highly skilled workers for the future. I fear for UCS. If it loses 20% students next year that will be 40% in a mere 2 years and NO business can survive when it has lost that many customers. The raising of tuition feed has been a disaster by this Tory-led coalition.
Report this comment
Ipswich Red
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Uni, Tuni, like Wayne Rooney. A university is a university, not a wretched 'uni' - please tell your correspondents off for speaking like footballers.
Report this comment
cwayconslt
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
When I look at the UK University ranking I can't even see UCS, how can a prospective student assess the quality of the degree they will get. If UCS is lumped in with Essex then there would be a difference from campus to campus in facilities and quality of teaching. To find UCS charges over £8,000 tuition fees seems very high ti me.
Report this comment
PeterIpswich
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Origami "there are enough applicants who do understand the system well enough to realise that a degree from UCS probably isn't worth £30K of debt." - why not? Do you know anything about the uni or are you just assuming because its new it can't be any good?
Report this comment
Scott Brock
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Wow !! What a surprise that when the price goes up the demand drops. A good thing too, because we desperately need thousands of apprentice artisans, rather than graduates in golf course management.
Report this comment
cwayconslt
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
As a graduate of the university of the bleeding obvious is it not clear that, by putting the prices up, the so-called ex polytechnic universities have choked off demand? Perhaps we can now train some competent artisans instead of producing graduates in media studies and other such twaddle subjects. Alternatively, get the aspirants to emigrate to Scotland, where our English taxes pay for free Scottish tertiary education.
Report this comment
cwayconslt
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
That's really not too bad considering the massive spike in number last year caused by the rush to get in before the prices went up. Even UEA dropped 14%! Being up on 2010 figures by 10% is a really good sign. But you know the detractors and the haters will jump on the headline of this article and try and make out the uni isn't a success somehow... yawns. Well done UCS keep up the good work.
Report this comment
Scott Brock
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
"There’s still an awful lot of applicants who don’t completely understand the system." Well I reckon there are enough applicants who do understand the system well enough to realise that a degree from UCS probably isn't worth £30K of debt. That's one hell of an expensive "student experience".
Report this comment
Origami Penguin
Tuesday, January 31, 2012