The predicted growth in UK student numbers over the rest of the decade necessitates new universities opening in “cold spots” but will also force existing providers to become less generalist and more targeted in the type of student they wish to attract, according to experts writing a series of essays published by Ucas.
The admissions service predicts demand for higher education in the country will expand by 30 per cent in the coming years, reaching a million applicants by 2030 because of demographic changes and the ever-increasing pool of internationally mobile students.
Responding to a challenge set by the body to consider what this might mean for the sector, former universities and science minister Lord Willetts says it could lead to the creation of new providers.
“A starting assumption could be that every major town should have some form of higher education institution,” he writes in an essay series published by Ucas on 20 April, adding that a start-up fund could be created to help institutions get going, with priority given to “cold spots” – one of the 46 towns with populations of more than 80,000 that had no universities as of 2021.
