University applications continue to increase

Fears of student debt have failed to dissuade teenagers from applying to university in record numbers this year.

Figures released today by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show a 3.9 per cent increase in student numbers, from 378,886 to 393,750, compared with last year.

Ministers will take more heart from a rise of 2.2 per cent in the number of under 21-year-olds opting for higher education compared with this time last year. This follows a slight drop in this age range when the overall numbers went down for the first time in a decade by about 350.

If today's increases are sustained, they would enable the Government to meet its target of 50 per cent of people under the age of 30 going into higher education by 2010.

Today's figures also show that the number of girls applying for places is rising faster than boys. Their numbers have gone up by 4.6 per cent compared with 3.1 per cent for boys.

The figures show the rise is highest among overseas students – a worry in itself since China, now beset by Sars, has registered the highest increase with an additional 43.9 per cent of applications from there bringing the total number to 5,810. Many universities are hoping the outbreak will have abated sufficiently by autumn to allow all the students to travel.

* Britain's further education colleges are increasingly being run by old, white men, says a new survey. Carried out by the Learning and Skills Development Agency it reveals that 42 per cent of managers are over 50 – compared with 24 per cent six years ago and most are also white and male.