UCAS figures published yesterday for applications to higher education course for 2009-10 show some interesting patterns for applications for social science degrees and foundation degrees.
Overall, there is a rise of 8.1% in applications for BA/BSc course, with politics achieving a 16.7% rise and Sociology a 4.3% rise. Social Policy applications, by contrast, have fallen by 2.8%.
Foundation degrees applications overall show an overall rise of around 20%, but the numbers applying to most social science Foundation degrees that are included in these figures is low. One application for a politics foundation degree and thirty three for sociology. Social Policy once again is rather different with a 64.2% increase in foundation degree applications at 944 overall.
Clearly there are many stories behind these figures. Some foundation degrees may use direct applications and there are technical points about the number of choices made by students on UCAS forms. For me, the key questions are whether the social sciences are making the most of the increased interest by applicants in foundation degree courses? Does the low application rate reflect the lack of interest by applicants in more vocational pathways within our subject areas or a lack attractive provision on our part?
Of course the outcome of all these applications depends in part on the degree to which the government may or may not fund further increases in student numbers – which is of course a political question.
