Student numbers rising

The BBC has a report on student applications indicating a 6.7% rise in applications for places on degree courses.

However the commentary largely focuses on the lack of movement on diversity levels:

The breakdown of social backgrounds shows only a slight change on 2007: 29.6% from lower groups compared with 28.9%.

They quote a Lib Dem spokesman in saying:

University might not be right for everyone, but the decision to apply should be down to individual students and not pre-determined by their parental background.

This is an issue for all industries, but is being felt keenly in many of Skillset’s sectors where a degree is often seen as a minimum qualification and where levels of diversity in the workforce are lower than the national norm.

The report also announces that as usual more women have applied than men – although it doesn’t say specifically whether this is reflected in the intake of computer games courses or not!