Not very good news for the university sector in Wales yesterday, which was hit by a drop in applicants of 10.7 per cent, with numbers decreasing from 59,705 in 2007 to 53,312 in 2008.
In contrast, applications to English institutions were up 9.2 per cent, and Scottish institutions by 1.5 per cent. Whilst the number of applications by Welsh domiciled students were up by 4.0 per cent, applications from English students were down by over 15 per cent.
Further details can be found at the UCAS website
This will mean a serious financial hit to some institutions over the next few years, especially if this trend continues. I am waiting for further financial details at an an institutional level but rumours are that Cardiff has held its own but that the smaller universities are the ones to suffer.
As a result, we could see some potential problems over the next couple of years, especially as a number of these universities have embarked on a very expensive estate refurbishing programme costing tens of millions of pounds at a time when the number of potential is customers is declining.
Another worrying aspect is the crash in overseas applications, which are seen as the cash cows for many institutions.
Overseas applications have increased by 10.6 per cent in England and 5.6 per cent in Scotland but have gone down by -16.6% in Wales. Remember, international students pay three times what home-based students pay.
This will again seriously hit the future cashflows of Welsh universities as they had all built in projected increases for international students into their strategic plans.