Applicantion Patterns

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.

Some words of comfort?

David Lammy’s speech to the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) is worth a read. The headline message is a defence of the liberal arts within higher education – this being justified on the dual basis that it is both good for the economy and good in itself.

Perhaps the underlying message is ‘don’t fear the swallowing of DIUS by BIS’. Of course, beyond the rhetoric, funding decisions and policy will reveal the real balance of power and priority in the merged department and we will need to wait a little longer to see how that turns out.

For my part, I was interested in the rather traditional conception of higher education that seems to inform the speech. References to “music societies, film clubs, bridge clubs, sports clubs, science clubs, political clubs, voluntary societies, foreign language societies” and the “annual play put on in the German Department” suggest to me a particular type of higher education experience. My hope is that the commitment to a liberal conceptualization of higher education is one that all learners are able to benefit from.

Breaking News

Following the reports from today's reshuffle it appears that:

• DIUS has now been merged into a new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
• Lord Mandelson is now the Secretary of State in charge of HE

Given the way that things are unfolding in government, I am tempted to think this might have more to do with expediency than strategic policy - but it does mean that HE is now clearly linked to business rather than the rest of education within government. It will be interesting to see if this has any consequences.