Press Release: Government sleepwalking into another university entrance crisis
Commenting on new figures from UCAS showing that applications for starting university next year are up by more than ten per cent on the same time last year, Shadow Universities and Skills Secretary, David Willetts said:
“Ministers are sleepwalking into another university entrance crisis. This year, far more potential students than usual have been left without a place and we can now see the problems are set to be even worse next year.
“It was obvious from the demographics and the state of the economy that more people would aspire to go to university. Ministers failed to tackle the issue in 2009 and are now repeating their mistakes for 2010. Young people rightly have high aspirations, but they are finding their pathways blocked.
“The Government has shown itself to be woefully ill-prepared. They have failed to match our plan for 10,000 additional fully-funded university places in 2010. The Student Loans Company continues to be in crisis. And, while ministers claim they are still committed to having half of all young people go to higher education, they are actually threatening big fines for universities looking to expand.”
Notes to Editors
Number of university applications up by 11.6% on same time last year
The UCAS figures were published today
http://www.ucas.ac.uk/about_us/media_enquiries/media_releases/2009/2009-11-02