The UK’s lower-ranked universities are battling to fill places after a decline in overseas applicants led to increased competition to secure domestic students, data from the university admissions service indicated on Thursday.
The race to secure students paying the maximum annual domestic fee of £9,250 emerged as this year’s A-level, BTec and T-Level results were published amid mounting concern over the financial stability of some parts of the higher education sector.
Figures published by Ucas before results were released showed 123,130 domestic students had accepted places from autumn 2024 at the lowest tier of universities — a 1.4 per cent fall compared with last year. The number of UK applicants accepted to the top-ranking institutions increased 9.3 per cent compared with last year to 127,210.