The number of people applying for full-time undergraduate courses at universities and colleges across the UK have increased by 6.4%, according to figures published by the Universities & Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). The rise represents 395,307 applicants applying to enter HE in 2007 compared to 371,683 in 2006.

The figures have provoked a range of reactions from key figures and stakeholders from across the Higher Education sector. Predictably, Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell is celebrating an early Christmas, quoted on BBC online as saying that ‘critics of the new system are being proved emphatically wrong’. Drummond Bone, speaking on behalf of Universities UK said: ‘There have been big changes in the student finance package, which can take time to be fully understood, so it is pleasing to see that people continue to see higher education as a worthwhile investment in their futures.’

We, too, should welcome the increase in applications but for the right reasons: NUS has long campaigned for the expansion of Higher Education to benefit the many, not the few long before vice-chancellors were brow beaten by political expediency to accept the expansion agenda as good for the economy and essential for a more just society.

But any one who thinks that these latest figures offer the green light for the lifting of the cap must think again. UCAS figures highlight the number of overall applications, but lack vital statistics about the proportion of students from under-represented or traditionally debt-averse who are applying. So far, the expansion of Higher Education has disproportionately benefited students from middle-income backgrounds and the widening participation agenda universities committed themselves to has been an abject failure. As Sally Hunt, General Secretary of the University and College Union said: ‘It is encouraging to see an increase in the number of students applying to university, however we are yet to see any evidence of widening participation.’

Where is the evidence that this recent rise in admissions has benefited those who have been traditionally excluded from Higher Education? As NUS President Gemma Tumelty was quoted as saying in our press release: ‘This is the real litmus test of the impact of top up fees - a drop in this group would be extremely serious even in the context of an overall increase.’ Worryingly, UCAS chose not to publish breakdowns for applications by class, race and ethnicity and disability: all crucial to assessing the impact of increased fees on the widening participation agenda. Perhaps they were placed under political pressure not to do so: a case of policy based evidence, rather than evidence based policy.

Furthermore, while the actual number of applications have increased, increase in the population of school leavers means that there are more potential applicants in the potential pool than ever before. Any increase in applications must be considered in the wider demographic context.

Beneath the headlines, there are some other emerging trends worthy of consideration and concern. Breakdowns by course show a marked increase in the number of applications for career orientated courses. For example, applications for degrees in business and administrative studies are up by 25% and applications for tourism, transport and travel degrees saw a rise of 30%. This is a sure sign of the further commodification of Higher Education – a means to an end in the workplace, rather than an opportunity to pursue a love of learning for its own sake. This will make worrying reading for academics in more traditional disciplines and those of us who value the pursuit of knowledge for a more learned, open and progressive knowledge based society.

While applications are up generally across the UK, the number of students from Northern Ireland applying to enter UK Higher Education has fallen by 3%. This is significant, given the current imposition of the English fees model on those who live in the North of Ireland and yet again highlights the failure of direct rule from Westminster.

It is telling that in the face of such a mixed bag of figures and in the complete absence of widening participation data, ministers and vice-chancellors alike are keen to declare victory. If they seriously think that even a modest increase in the number of students from under-represented backgrounds is good enough, then they need to set their sights a little higher. We are still nowhere near meeting the 50% target set by the government 10 years ago and far from genuinely widening participation.

From the outset, our campaign has been about ensuring fair access to all students, irrespective of their background and reversing years of under-representation and marginalisation of large sections of our society. Nothing UCAS has said today can convince me to change my view that, for too many of those students, admission remains impossible.

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