The Race for a Place

17 February 2003

The Race for a Place

ONE of the region's Universities has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people applying for its courses that is seven times higher than the national average, according to official figures just released by the Universities & Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).

Aston University received a 14.4 per cent rise in applications for its undergraduate courses against a UK average increase of 2.1 per cent. Through UCAS, over 11,000 people have so far applied to study at Aston for entry in October 2003 for around 1,600 places, a ratio of seven applications per place.

Aston's increase is by far the largest gained by universities throughout the East and West Midlands. Birmingham and UCE are up by 1 per cent, Warwick and Nottingham Trent are up by 2 per cent, Keele by 3 per cent, Nottingham by 3.7 per cent and Wolverhampton by 6 per cent.

Stewart Comfort, head of schools liaison and careers at Aston University said: 'This is fantastic news for the university. These figures reflect the fact that today's students want a quality education and a friendly, supportive university experience, and Aston University fits these criteria perfectly.

'Most of our subject areas have experienced increases in applications, with subjects such as Business, Psychology and Product Design leading the field. Overall, we're delighted with this high demand for our courses and will continue to operate the open, transparent admissions policies for which we are known to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance to study with us,' he continued.

ENDS

For further information please call 0121 204 4549 or email: b.a.l.coombes@aston.ac.uk

Note for editors

Source of information, UCAS's website: www.ucas.ac.uk/new/press/news140203/index.html