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Prospective undergraduate students are turning to engineering courses in increasing numbers while shunning teaching and nursing degrees, according to the UK’s university admissions service.
Data published by Ucas on Thursday showed almost 217,000 applications were submitted for engineering and technology courses by the January deadline, a 14 per cent increase from 189,560 last year.
However, applications to teaching and nursing were the lowest since the data was first reported in 2019, declining 11 per cent and 2 per cent over the past year to 3,140 and 30,550 respectively.
About 80 per cent of students usually apply by the January deadline.
The data comes as a number of universities cut core science courses and launch staff severance schemes in the face of mounting financial pressure and a growing divergence between top and lower-tier institutions.
The Ucas data showed lower-tier institutions were continuing to lose out to top-tier universities in attracting students.
Applications to the UK’s higher-ranking universities increased 4.3 per cent over the past year, reaching a record 1.25mn in January 2025, while lower-ranked universities recorded a 3.1 per cent fall.
The decline at lower-ranked institutions was driven by a 7.4 per cent fall in undergraduate applications from lucrative international students, despite an overall rise in overseas applicants of 2.7 per cent across the sector.
UK universities have become increasingly reliant on international students to plug their financial shortfalls.
Despite the increase in undergraduate overseas students, changes to visa rules have led to a sharp drop in recent years of postgraduates from outside the UK, who account for about three-quarters of new international students.
A record 323,360 UK 18-year-olds made applications by the January deadline, a rise of 2 per cent on the same time last year, but application rates have still fallen slightly as the increase is lower than population growth for this age group.
The increase in applicants to engineering courses was the second year of double-digit growth.
Jamie Cater, head of employment and skills at trade body Make UK, said the rise was “encouraging news” for the UK’s manufacturers. “As demand for graduate-level technical skills increases in response to digitalisation and the push for net zero across industry, this is a positive sign that businesses will be able to recruit the highly skilled workers they need for the future.”
But he added that a university degree was not the only option available for acquiring these skills and “the apprenticeship route remains highly valued by manufacturers”.
Demand for nursing and teaching courses fell for the fourth consecutive year, raising questions about the government’s pledge to tackle the recruitment crisis in both professions.
Nicola Ranger, general secretary and chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said students were deterred from nursing by low starting salaries and the “broken model of education” that left them saddled with debt.
“These figures are devastating for the nursing profession and a hammer blow for the government’s planned NHS reforms,” she said.
“Ministers must launch an urgent, fully funded student recruitment campaign this spring to turn this situation around before September’s intake.”
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